Forbidden
by Jedicellomaster
Summary: "What else are you to do when you fall in love with your executioner?" Alex is literally a hobo. She lives (lived) in a tree in Central Park and stole ("borrowed") food from people to survive. But when she's arrested for stealing and forced to attend Goode High School, everything changes when she meets Liam Bentley, Son of Zeus. Because, for some reason, his father wants her dead.
1. I GET ARRESTED

**So...first story on fanfiction. Yay!**

 **Note: I have edited this recently, so hopefully all of the grammar and spelling errors are gone.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or anything Rick Riordan has written. This was just an idea I had.**

If, by any chance, you see a girl with red hair in a threadbare green jacket and blue jeans, and with a little of mud on her face walking around in Walmart, don't approach her. Don't even look at her. She doesn't want to be looked at, and she certainly doesn't want to be talked to. If you see her slip something into her pockets, she's not stealing. At least, she doesn't think she is. It's justified in her mind by the fact that she was starving, and didn't have the money. And if you spot the hunting knife concealed on her makeshift belt, don't worry. It's only for emergencies. Yet another reason why you should steer clear of her.

How do I know all of this, you ask?

Because I am that girl. And my name is Alex.

I glanced around the Walmart to make sure that no one was looking before slipping two packages of chips and bread inside my tattered jacket's pockets. And no, I was not stealing. I was... _borrowing_. Without permission. But who needs permission nowadays anyway?

At least, that's what I told myself. But even after steal—er, borrowing—for almost all of my life, the guilt still ate away at me. I hated doing this. Some might have thought it odd that I had a sense of morality, considering that I literally grew up on the streets.

I made my way down the aisle and wandered over to the shoe section of the store. The sneakers that I had were falling apart and did me no favors, so they needed to be replaced. Several women walked past me and gave me curious looks, but I paid them no attention. I needed to leave fast before someone realized what I was doing, and I could not run in these crap shoes. I speed-walked to the Converse section and quickly selected a pair of purple high-top sneakers. I sat down on a chair and slipped the pair of shoes onto my feet, using my hunting knife to cut the tie attaching them. I slipped my old pair and the Converse box under the chair and walked casually out the door and past the cash registers in a matter of seconds. Other than a few more odd looks, I don't think anyone suspected anything.

Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than any I've ever seen. The clouds were so far-reaching that they completely covered the moon. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, gigantic tides, and wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in or something. This had happened a few years ago, too.

Nobody else seemed to notice. Some guys were pelting pigeons with rocks. A girl was trying to pickpocket from a lady's purse, and, of course, the police weren't seeing a thing.

I guess I should explain myself. My name is Alex, I'm fifteen, and I am currently homeless.

Just to clarify, I do not sleep in the middle of the road or anything like that, but I don't live in an actual house. Not that I'm complaining, but my life hadn't exactly been all sunshine and rainbows up until this point.

I dashed down an alleyway or two to avoid being seen with stolen goods and slammed right into a brick wall. Lays Salt and Vinegar chips and bread flew out of my hands and over my head as I hit the wall and then the sidewalk as I fell.

"Oh," I moaned. "Ow."

Note to self: never run with groceries. Ever.

I picked myself up off the ground and sighed. The chips had busted open and the bread landed in a soggy gutter full of who-knows-what. No way was I touching either of those again. If I tried to eat them now, I'd get sick. Trust me, I know from experience. But I was also stuck without anything to eat for the night. Which meant I'd have to dig into my emergency supply. Which meant if I had to leave New York City, I'd have less food. Which would be bad.

So I trudged unhappily to Central Park and sat on a park bench.

Now I know what you're thinking: Why is she going to Central Park when it's night and about to rain? The answer is because I live here. In Central Park.

I have wondered myself several times why I had not been discovered and kicked off the property. I almost had been, several times. But there are places in the trees, little niches that people don't think to check. And those places are where I sleep, eat, live, and store my things. I had piled exactly six rocks in what I hoped had been a pyramid in front of the comfiest tree that had my blanket, knapsack, and food.

I stood and walked towards my tree when I was sure nobody was looking. It was a tall pine tree, with long and thick branches. It was dark, but I've never had trouble seeing in the dark, so I found it without too much problem. I looked around me to see if anyone was here for a second time. Nope. I scampered up the tree like a squirrel and reached my branch about halfway up. Another fun fact about me: I actually like living in a tree. I like the fact that I can leave whenever I want, nobody knows I'm here, and I love the smell of the tree and the outdoors. It was invigorating: the smell of the pine needles, the wind, the moonlight shining down on me. I guess what I'm trying to say was that it was peaceful.

For the most part.

 **x x x**

I'd like to say that I slept well that night, but the truth was that I didn't. I kept thinking about the chips and bread in the alley, probably eaten by rats by now. And I got mad at myself, and my life, even at Walmart. I needed that food. Badly. Not only did I have to dig into my horde of food that I'd been saving, but I discovered that at least half of the things I've been carrying were covered in mold and were unfit to eat.

So I climbed down from my tree and grabbed all of my things: the knapsack filled halfway with food.

My knapsack consisted of several things: about $20 for emergencies, a needle and cloth for attempting to patch up my clothes, an extra pair of socks, a pad of paper and a pencil, and a silver watch that didn't work. I had considered selling the watch, but it wasn't worth much if it didn't work, and it was the only item I had from my mother.

I never knew my parents. My father, from what I understand, is dead, and my mother abandoned me at foster care in Pennsylvania when I was nine months old. The only thing I remember from her was this glow around her face and a warm smile as she looked down at me. But then I think this image couldn't match with her, because otherwise, why would she leave me with a whole bunch of buffoons who didn't remotely know how to take care of me at all?

But that's not the point. The point is that I wasn't going to sell the watch. Which was the main reason for why I had to steal. I just didn't have enough money to buy things like normal people.

But normal was boring anyways.

I walked out of the park, turned down a couple more streets, and walked into a store. (And when I say store, I mean a large supermarket filled with fresh fruit, valuable items, and a whole bunch of junk food.) Just the smell of the place made my mouth water, as if I were nostalgic for something that I had never known: a full stomach.

The place was full of people, mostly farmers and pawn shop owners, who didn't pay a dirty street rat like me much attention. This worked to my advantage, because I was able to steal fresh fruits from a couple stands, and a small portion of junk food. The junk food was not very valuable to me, because I had to focus on things that would keep me healthy, and not just things that would drag my health farther down then it already was. I decided that it had been a good idea to bring my knapsack, because it gave me the ability to store more stolen items that I normally would inside my jacket.

But the main reason that I was here was to check the missing children's posters. I knew they had been several months since my face has graced the board, but it never hurt to be too careful. I could not afford any more attention, otherwise I would probably be arrested and thrown into Juvy when caught stealing. Which would be very bad, because I've heard the things that happen in jail, and I would not survive them.

I pushed my way through the crowd and made my way towards a large wooden board filled with papers and posters. Most of them were none of my concern, and I therefore paid them no attention. I knew what I was there for and I normally don't let anything draw my attention away. But, I do have ADHD, so when I saw a picture of a boy with brown hair, green eyes, black square glasses, and a goofy grin plastered to his face holding a large trophy, I naturally got distracted.

 _LIAM BENTLEY WINS MEDIEVAL SWORD CONTEST!_

 _Last week, the annual Renaissance fair came to New York city. And as always each year, they held a medieval sword competition. Grown men have practice all year to test their mettle in a grueling competition. Many people have come away with grave injuries, And it was considered several times that the practice should be disbanded. But for once something good has come out of the contest: the youngest winner ever._

 _Liam Bentley is a Sophomore at at Goode High School here in NY. His father was an apparent winner of the competition, though Bentley had never wielded a sword himself before. When he heard one of the older players insult his father, Bentley immediately signed up for the competition._

 _"I didn't really think about it at the time," Bentley said. "I was just really angry with that guy."_

 _Little did he know, Bentley would come out on top of the heap, producing the youngest winner ever: 15 years old._

 _In other news, Mrs. Rudenheifer's cat has managed to trap itself in a tree yet again. Page B1._

I shook my head to refocus my attention. _Children's Posters. That's what I'm here for. Focus._

I pulled my eyes away from the news and looked at the missing children's posters. I looked down the list in a rapid manner, especially aware of the fact that I had stolen items in my knapsack. At any moment someone could walk up to me and take a look at my knapsack because they thought I was stealing. I didn't want to take that risk, because once again, it would probably mean I would go to some form of jail. I continued to look down the list, but luckily didn't find any mention of me or anyone that looks remotely like me. Which meant nobody was looking for me. Which was a good thing I guess, but it was a bad thing because...well, it meant that no one was looking for me.

I have gotten used to being alone over the years, but it was getting pretty tiring. A part of me wanted to be found or caught, because it would mean that it would give me a chance to go back to the adoption homes or foster care and find a real family. But yet another part of me knew that this was impossible. I had been there for six years and nobody had wanted me. There comes a point in foster care when you're up for adoption and you get too old where nobody wants to adopt you anymore. It was in every story about some orphan living on the streets, but it was true.

"Hey! You with the knapsack and hoodie!"

That was me. I looked over my shoulder to find a vendor selling fruit standing behind a police officer. Where did he come from?

"Yeah?" I said, stupidly.

"You have this man's food sticking out of your bag," the officer said.

I glanced at the piece of bread sticking out and sighed inwardly. Here we go again.

I ran.

Dashing to the left, I shoved a couple out of the way and ran as fast as I could down a path between a row of vendors and bathrooms.

"Hey!" the police officer said. "Stop!"

 _Yeah right,_ I thought. _Like that's gonna work._

I tried to find another exit, but people were massing around me and trying to grab my bag.

"Hey!" someone yelled.

"Stop her!" another person shouted.

"That's my pineapple!"

 _What?_

As yet another person grabbed at me, I jumped onto a table full of arts and crafts and ran right over their heads.

I was three yards away from the door. I thought I was home free.

But as I jumped down from another table, I realized that I had completely forgotten about the police officer.

His arms slammed into my legs and I fell to the floor with a devastating _THUD_.

"Put your hands in the air!" the police officer said.

I did as he said.

He handcuffed me. Took me to his car and gave the vendors back their food. Took my bag as evidence. Made me seat buckle myself in. Started the car.

It was then that I realized this one fact:

I had been caught.

 **Please review! This HAS been edited, so hopefully the quality is better for this chapter.**


	2. A POLICE OFFICER BUYS ME A CHEESEBURGER

**Second chapter! Woo.**

"What's your name?"

"Where do you live?"

"Why did you steal the food?"

These were all questions that were asked of me. I remained silent. If I told them who I was and that I was homeless, they'd send me back to foster care. I'd rather die than go back there.

"Who are your parents?"

"Did anyone else help you?"

"Are you hungry?"

My head snapped up immediately. Was I hungry? Was the sky blue?

"Figured that'd catch your attention," the man in front of me said. The sudden smell of McDonald's hit me like an aroma from heaven, and my mind was filled with images and tastes of cheeseburgers and fries. I looked down at the man's feet to see a large bag where the heavenly smell was originating from. "Answer my questions—" the man grabbed the bag and plopped it on the table. A small portion of fries dropped out. My mouth watered. "—and you'll get all this." He pulled out a double cheeseburger, large fries, and a large chocolate milkshake. I was about ready to rip these handcuffs off of me and devour it all.

"Now. What is your name?" the man said. He was about 6 feet tall, with blond hair and hazel eyes.

"Alex."

"No last name?"

"When you find my parents, you can ask them," I said, eyes still on the food. I realized with a start that I had just revealed one of the two things that kept me from going to foster care. The man didn't seem to notice.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Alex. I'm Lawrence."

He stood up from his chair and unlocked my handcuffs. I flexed my hands and rotated my wrists to get out the kinks as he slid the fries over. Without hesitating, I dug into the container and ate my heart out. A minute after he had given me the fries, I had finished them.

"Wow. I guess you're really hungry."

 _Yeah, no duh, Sherlock._

I licked the salt off my fingers as he asked me another question. "We found a significant amount of stolen food in your bag, Alex. Why'd you steal it all?"

I snorted. "It's not stealing if you need that food to survive."

"But you had plenty of other food in your bag. You didn't need to steal."

"That food was for emergencies. I wasn't willing to take from that yet. It would mean that I would have to steal even more later to replenish that supply _and_ feed myself for the day. I figured that it would be easier to just steal myself some breakfast."

Lawrence seemed surprised by my logic. "Where do you live?"

I shrugged. He opened the wrapper on the cheeseburger. "Central Park. The big pine tree."

"You live in a tree?" he asked incredulously.

I shrugged again. "It's better than living in a gutter so someone can knife me."

"True." He slid me the cheeseburger. "Officer Jones—the man who arrested you—noticed that you were staring at the missing children's posters. Any reason why that is?"

And there it was: the question to end all questions. If I told him, he'd know for sure that I needed to go back to foster care. But if I didn't tell him, he would withhold that large chocolate milkshake from me and possibly send me to Juvy.

I bit my lip and tried to decide. Finally, I lied. "I was looking at the newspaper clipping on the board."

Lawrence cocked his head at me. "Were you? Then why did Officer Jones say you spent at least five minutes there reading?"

"I'm dyslexic." Which was true.

"Huh." For a second, I thought he was going to slap those handcuffs on me again, but he must have been satisfied with my answer, because he gave me the milkshake, which I drank thirstily and finished my cheeseburger. "So here's my dilemma, kid. I don't know what to do with you. I could send you back out on the streets, which I don't want to do. I could send you to Juvy. I could even send you to foster care. But I know you don't want any of those options. How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

Lawrence whistled. "Thought you'd be older. So here's the thing, Alex. Legally, I have to send you to either Juvy or Foster care. Morally, I'd rather have you stay at one of the officer's houses and enroll you in school. I've known a couple kids from foster care, and none of them liked it. You've got that same look about you now, and I don't want to make you do something you don't want to. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to let you go on one condition: you take one-hundred bucks from me and _buy_ yourself some food and clothes for two days. On the second day, you come back here. There should have something worked out for you by then. Alright?"

Hmm, free food and a pass from jail? Um, yes please. "Sure."

"Great." Lawrence dug into his pocket and pulled out five crumpled twenty dollar bills. My mouth fell open. Who just carries around one-hundred dollars with them? Lawrence slid the money over to me and I placed the twenties in my pocket.

"Thank you," I said.

"Anytime."

 **x x x**

The two days passed rather quickly. On the first day, the day after the police gave me back my knapsack (empty of food) I went back to my tree and pulled out my pad of paper. Sitting in one of the lower branches, I calculated the food costs for two days. It wasn't very easy, because I was terrible at math. But I tried.

Three meals a day for two days was six meals. At McDonald's, I could probably buy the same meals for four of those—two cheeseburgers and medium fries—was about $3.79. Multiplied by four was...what? $14? $15?

The words and numbers started swimming around the page and running laps around the inside of my head. I took a deep breath and looked away from the page for a moment. It had started to rain outside, and the smell of wet dirt reached my senses. I _loved_ rain. I breathed the smell in deeply before turning back to the page.

Since the other four meals were around $15, I still had two meals to account for: Breakfast. If I got an egg and cheese biscuit and a sausage McMuffin each day, that's about $5. I think. So 15 plus 5 is...20. So that means that I had about $80 to spend on clothes. Fresh, clean clothes on that didn't smell like I had dug them out from a trash dumpster. I mean, I had, but people didn't need to know that.

"Oh, thank God," I muttered aloud. I leaned a little out of my tree and looked at the sky. The sun was just setting; I should have time to visit a thrift shop. I remembered that there was one nearby. I placed my pad of paper in my knapsack and slid out of my tree with it hanging around my shoulders. Once again, I got a few odd looks, especially from a kid with curly hair and a red baseball cap on crutches, but I ignored them and started across the grass towards the thrift shop.

Housing Works Thrift Shops was a homey little shop, with a wooden plank floor and racks of clothes, old couches and a guitar,and a whole bunch of little trinkets that I had no clue how to make function. As I walked in, a bell chimed overhead that was attached to the door. A woman with an afro of curly black hair appeared from a room behind the counter.

"Hello, darling," she said. "How are you?"

I shrugged and said, "Fine, I guess. Can I take a look around?"

"Sure, sure! Take all the time you need."

As soon as she said this, she disappeared into the room behind the counter again. I sighed and glanced around the store once. I guess I was on my own. Again.

After maybe thirty minutes or so of looking around the store, I finally found a nice pair of blue jeans, a gray t-shirt, and a black jacket in my size. And, as a bonus, it was all under $70. I smiled to myself as I approached the counter once again.

"Ahem," I said, in an attempt to summon the woman behind the counter. Nothing happened. I coughed loudly again. The woman was either ignoring me or she was deaf. I assumed that she had been ignoring me and sighed. I dug into my knapsack and produced three twenty dollar bills and placed them on the counter. Then I exited the store.

The rain had let up, so I found a porta potty and changed into my new clothes. It felt nice to have something fresh to wear again. I hadn't had something new given to me for a long time.

 **x x x**

On the second day, I went to the YMCA to take a shower. A wonderful, warm, cleansing shower sent above from the heavens. I used the soap they provided to clean my hair out thoroughly and then brushed it out with a cheap comb I had bought. Then I put it back in a ponytail. I scrubbed myself until I didn't smell like a dumpster anymore. I felt satisfied with myself after I had dressed and applied a cheap deodorant I had also bought.

I was humming a tune to myself when a shock ran through my system: in a sudden urge to hide I crouched behind a potted shrub and watched.

The boy on crutches entered the YMCA and looked around. No, he didn't look around. He _sniffed_ around, as if he smelled some kind of good food. Then he looked straight at me.

I swore under my breath and ducked back under the shrub. Why the hell was he following me? I was _not_ that interesting. Other than the fact that I lived in a tree and stole from people. I looked back over the bush. The boy in crutches was nowhere to be found. Had I imagined the whole thing?

Tentatively, I stood from behind the bush. Slinging my knapsack over my shoulder, I ran out of the YMCA. I was going to be late to the police station.

When I arrived, Lawrence was waiting for me. He looked uncomfortable and nervous, and I wondered what his superiors had said to him to make him like this. He was sitting on a bench outside the offices, so I joined him. Digging into my pockets, I gave him the rest of his money: a grand total of $7.56. His eyes bugged out of his head and he laughed.

"You really burn through money fast, don't you, kid?"

I shrugged. "I did what you said. I think that was the first time I actually ate well."

Lawrence laughed again. "Don't have to tell me twice. Nice clothes, by the way."

"What did they say?" I asked, cutting right to the chase.

Lawrence immediately shrunk a little. "Well, the good news is they're not putting you in jail or foster care."

A large weight was lifted off my chest. "That's great! But what's the bad news?"

Lawrence sighed, and wouldn't look at me. "I'm...your new guardian."

 **x x x**

Lawrence's house was sweet. It was big enough for at least 4 people to each have a bedroom and a bathroom. My room was big and had a window seat. Outside the window was a ladder that led to the roof. My room had tons of books and shelves and even a desk. Overall, it was pretty cool. My life conditions had improved sevenfold.

The only bad thing was that I had to go to school now. The last time I had been to school had been what? Sixth or seventh grade? How was I supposed to catch up with what a sophomore in high school was doing?

Lawrence assured me that I would be assigned a tutor and a guide to get me through school. I wasn't so sure I would survive the first day.

Lawrence took me school supply shopping right before the stores closed. I received a gray and green messenger bag, five notebooks, a butt load of pencils and pens, and a calculator. He said I would go to school the next week and that I needed to read the school's "guidelines," whatever that meant. It must have been something to do with the big book that I threw out.

I explained patiently to Lawrence that because of my dyslexia and ADHD, I would have a hard time focusing in the classroom and would die slowly inside. He told me that there were plenty of other kids at the school with my "problems." Great.

When I asked him what this supposed miracle school was called, he said, "Goode High."

 **So, that was the second chapter. I can't decide whether or not I'm happy** **with it. Luckily, there's a thing called a "review."**

 **This chapter has been edited.**


	3. I DESCEND INTO HELL

**...aaaand we're on chapter three. I know there's supposed to be some kind of uniform for Goode High, but I didn't feel like making Alex wear all that crap, so everyone is more relaxed here.**

 **Disclaimer: I osn nothing except the OCs. They're MINE.**

* * *

The day I went to school, I died on the inside.

I had heard stories about the place, and was not thrilled to be going. I would much rather start from sixth grade when I left and then go on than start with new material that I didn't know. Add the fact that I live with a police officer and was homeless just last week, and I'd be dead meat if anyone found out.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I was very, _very_ nervous. I had never even set foot inside a high school before, much less enrolled in one.

Lawrence drove me to school in his police car. He might as well have slapped a sign on my forehead that said, "Bully Me!"

"Keep your head low," he told me. "Don't draw too much attention to yourself."

I rolled my eyes. "Geez, you act like I'm going into a battle zone or something. Should I take my suit of armor?"

Lawrence stared at the entrance to the school. "Have you ever been to a high school before?"

"No."

"You'll know what I mean by the end of the day."

And with that good omen, I grabbed my messenger bag and got out of the car. I was wearing a clean pair of blue jeans, a dark green t-shirt, and the same black jacket I had bought from the thrift store. My red hair was tied back in a ponytail. I adjusted the messenger strap uncomfortably and looked back at Lawrence in the car. He gave me two thumbs up. I looked back at the school.

Goode was this big brownstone building overlooking the East River. A bunch of BMWs and Lincoln Town Cars were parked out front. Staring up at the fancy stone archway, I wondered how long it would take me to get kicked out of this place and put back on the streets. I sighed loudly and walked up the steps and into the school with the other students pouring out of the buses and cars. The nice thing about a big crowd: nobody notices you. You can blend in and not be seen. The bad thing about a big crowd: I couldn't figure out where the office was.

Lawrence told me that to meet my guide/tutor, I'd have to go to the office. And if I wanted to get to the office, I'd have to be able to see it. Which I couldn't do.

I started to panic. How was I supposed to be able to know where my classes were if I couldn't even find the office? I _needed_ that guide.

So I pushed through the crowd like an olympic swimmer cuts through water and moved towards what looked like an important room. It had a clean, polished oak door and windows that allowed me to look inside. There was a desk where a woman was typing on a computer in front of chairs where students were patiently waiting. There was a hallway that led to the left.

Well, it _looked_ like an office. I turned the doorknob on the oak door and pushed it open. But I pushed it open too hard and ended up stumbling through the door and nearly falling onto the floor. As you can probably guess, I was pretty clumsy. My bag swung around my shoulder and nearly smacked me in the face as I righted myself and looked towards who I guessed was the secretary, a fast blush creeping over my cheeks.

"Sorry," I said. "The door just kinda gave way quick—"

The secretary waved it away with her hand. "It's fine. Everyone does it at some point. I take it you're the new student Officer Clayton sent?"

"Er...yeah," I said. "That's me, I guess."

"Okay, honey. Just take a seat while I look up your schedule."

I looked over at the empty seat between two large kids, and suddenly it felt like I was in the police station again. The boy on the left was maybe eighteen, scary, and looked like he wanted to punch something. The boy on the left was probably a year younger than me and looked like he wanted to steal something from right under somebody's nose. I decided to keep my valuable items close and my face far away from both of them as I sat down. I prayed to the god of teenagers-who-don't-want-to-get-robbed.

"Um...Alexandra Clayton? That's you, right honey?"

"Yeah," I said. Lawrence had lent me his last name for the time being. "Just call me Alex, please."

"Okay," the secretary said. "Your guide and tutor is one...Annabeth Chase. I just called her down. She'll be here in a minute."

I nodded shortly and glanced at the potential murder and thief beside me and hoped that this "Annabeth" girl would get here soon.

 **x x x**

As it turns out, she got there in exactly five minutes. It was probably a good thing she came when she did, because the murderer and the thief were about to rip each other's heads off while I was still in the middle.

"Okay!" I said, standing. "You two can kill each other while I stand a safe distance away."

"Oh, don't worry, they won't," a voice said. "Not while they're in school, at least."

I turned around to find a girl with blond hair and gray eyes standing in the doorway. She walked up to the secretary and grabbed my schedule from her. I almost protested, but then I remembered that she was my guide for the day. She knew where all the classes where.

 _Idiot,_ I cursed myself.

"I'm Annabeth," the girl said. "You must be Alex."

I grinned. "That's me."

Annabeth shook my hand and handed me my schedule. "I think you have all the same classes as I do, so I can just take you straight to homeroom." She looked at the secretary. "Is that okay, Mrs. Cesa?"

"Sure, honey," Mrs. Cesa said. "Make sure she doesn't end up in PE on accident. You know what happened last time?"

"W-what happened last time?" I asked, confused, as Annabeth dragged me out of the office.

"Oh, nothing." Annabeth replied. "Just...some new kid walked into gym class on accident and the teacher made him climb the rope twice."

I gulped.

"So, where are you from?" she asked me.

"Ohio," I said. It wasn't a lie; I had been born and raised there for nine months.

"Ohio is cool," Annabeth said. "I hear the weather's kinda weird though."

I laughed. "Well, I wouldn't know." Annabeth looked at me quizzically, so I elaborated. "I was born in Ohio, but raised here."

"Ah," she said.

Annabeth led me down so many hallways that I had a hard time remembering them. Left, right, right, left, right? Or was it left, right, left, right, right? I couldn't remember.

"And here is homeroom!" Annabeth said, gesturing to a door with the title of _Mr. Brunner_. At least, I think it said that. It also looked like RM NRBUERN. But I had some experience in sorting out my dyslexia, so I was able to decode it.

"Who's Mr. Brunner?" I said.

"Mr. Brunner teaches Greek, so you have him second period and homeroom. He's pretty down to earth, so I think you'll like him."

I shrugged in response as she opened the door to reveal a small classroom full of people, save two seats, which I assumed belonged to Annabeth and I. The teacher was a middle-aged guy in this motorized wheel chair. His brown hair was a little thin and he had a full beard, but he had a kind face. He was wearing a tweed jacket (do they still make those?) and a blanket over his legs.

"Ah, Annabeth," he said. "I take it the touring went well?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Well, she didn't run away, so I'm assuming so."

When Annabeth said "she," Mr. Brunner's eyes focused on me, standing behind her. They sparkled with curiosity, as if he was trying to solve a puzzle and I was the answer.

"Hi," I said nervously. "I'm Alex."

"Alex Clayton. Yes, I know." He seemed to shake off his fascination with me and resumed his role as a teacher. "You can sit next to Ms. Grace."

"Ms. Grace" was a tough-looking girl wearing black punk clothes with electric-blue eyes. Normally, I would have been intimidated, but this girl had a warm smile, and that seemed to bring the intimidation factor down by about 3 notches. I adjusted my bag and crossed the classroom uncomfortably. I have never liked being the center of attention, and at that moment I felt like I would spontaneously combust from the amount of people looking at me.

"Hi," the girl said as I sat in the desk next to her. "I'm Thalia."

"Alex," I said. "But you probably already know that."

"Okay, class." Mr. Brunner said. "Turn to page 347 in your textbooks."

 **x x x**

"Well, that was fun," I said, rubbing my forehead sorely.

"Oh, come on," Annabeth said. "It wasn't that bad."

"That's easy for you to say! The science teacher didn't nail you in the forehead with a physics book!"

"She's got a point, Annabeth," Thalia said, joining us as we walked towards the cafeteria. "That sounds pretty rough."

I nodded feverishly. "I think that guy has it out for me."

"Oh, he has it out for everyone." Thalia said with a wave of her hand. "I don't know why he teaches if he hates the happiness of children."

We laughed. It was nice that I had seemed to make some friends on the first day—I honestly expected to be the kid sitting next to the trashcan with puke on their shoes. Annabeth, Thalia and I steered clear of that guy.

When we reached the cafeteria, my jaw dropped. The place was _huge_. There were rows and rows of tables made of expensive-looking wood—mahogany, maybe?—and three different lunch lines.

"Woah," was my super-intelligent statement.

"Yeah, all the new kids are like that when they see this place," Thalia said. "Come on, we'll take you to our lunch table."

Their lunch table was far away from the exit, so I got a good look at all of the kids in the school as we walked by. There were the big nerds, who had laptops and phones out while they ate and were talking about minecraft and coding and things I didn't understand. There were the jocks, who were having an arm-wrestling competition and flexing their muscles. There were the preps, I guess you could say, who were chatting and gossiping in nice clothes and snapping selfies. And there were the people like me, who didn't quite fit into just one or any of those. Those were the people that Annabeth and Thalia led me to.

As we approached, I could see a dark-haired boy with sea-green eyes and an athletic build sitting next to a boy with curly hair and crutches.

I stopped. That was the boy that I had seen following me last week. What the hell was going on? Was he stalking me, or something like that?

"What's wrong?" Annabeth said. She followed my gaze and frowned. "Do you know Grover?"

I shook my head. "I saw him following me a couple days back. Scared the crap out of me."

Thalia sighed. "Grover wasn't following you. He was probably trying to figure out where you lived so he could murder you in your sleep."

She said it so seriously that for a moment I almost believed her. Then Annabeth stepped on her foot.

"Thalia!"

"What? It's called a joke."

Annabeth shook her head and then looked back at me. "Where were you when you saw him?"

"I was...at my house near Central Park, then I went to the YMCA, over like, a mile away, and he was there."

"Oh." Annabeth slammed her palm into her forehead. "Grover works at the YMCA and he has physical therapy for his muscular condition in Central Park. I can understand why you thought he was stalking you, though. He does kinda give that impression."

I nodded, but something about that didn't sound right, even if it did make sense. "Okay."

They nodded in response and continued leading me over to the table. When we arrived, both of the boys looked up at us. And both of their eyes widened in surprise. Whether it was because I was there or because I was the new kid, I couldn't tell.

"Guys," Thalia said, "this is Alex. She's the new kid."

They introduced me to the two boys even as more people sat at the table. The guy with the dark hair: Percy Jackson, Swim Team Captain. Grover, the guy with crutches, ate enchiladas as I was introduced to him. I decided he was harmless. Up next was this big burly kid that Annabeth called Beckendorf, but I wasn't sure whether or not that was his real name. He fidgeted with some kind of metal gizmo that I discovered later was a pocket watch, though it didn't look like one.

"So how's Goode High so far?" the boy called Beckendorf asked me as I sat next to Thalia.

I laughed a little to myself. "It's pretty awesome, actually. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

The others shared a look that wasn't quite humorous, but not completely serious either. It was almost...mischievous. Annabeth opened her mouth to say something, but another voice cut her off before she could.

"Hey! The newbie is sitting in my seat!"

I turned to find a tall boy looking down on me. He was my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With his slight tan and his brown hair (combed neatly), he was almost exactly what I thought a warrior would look like, except his eyes messed up the picture. They were a striking green, like grass; handsome, but humorous, too, as if he were analyzing the best way to make me laugh. And I realized that I recognized him: he was the boy from the newspaper clipping who had won the sword competition. I almost mentioned it, but I kept my mouth closed.

"Liam, that's not _your_ seat," Percy said.

"But I've sat there since the beginning of the year!"

"Oh, boy. A whopping two months. Yeah, that really makes you the senior here," Thalia said with an eye roll.

Liam opened his mouth to say something, but then he must not have found anything to say, because he closed it and then sat on the other side of the table. "What's your name?" he asked me after a moment.

"Alex," I replied.

Liam held out his hand for me to shake. "Liam. Nice to meet you, Alex."

I observed his hand for a moment before shaking it. "Nice to meet you too."

Only later would I realize that this boy was the very one who turned my life upside down.

 **UgH. I did not like the way this chapter turned out. I had so much more that I wanted to fit in here without making it too long, but then I realized I could fit it in another chapter.**

 **Anyways, please review.**

 **This chapter has been edited.**


	4. I MURDER THE ONE-EYED THRIFT SHOP OWNER

"So Mr. Ardello literally threw a physics book at your face?" Beckendorf said incredulously. "He must really have it out for you."

"That's what I said!" I exclaimed.

"He hasn't even done that to me," Liam said as he took a bite out of his sandwich. "And he hates me."

"Well, that's just my luck, I guess," I said.

"Well, look at the new _freak_!" a harsh voice said.

 _Speaking of bad luck,_ I thought.

I turned to find a big burly girl wearing a camp jacket and a sneer sauntering towards our table. There were two other girls like her dressed identically following from behind.

"Clarisse," Percy said. "I thought you didn't want to hang out with the 'Freaks of Goode?'"

"I don't," Clarisse said. "But I can't resist the chance to make the new girl look stupid."

I realized too late that she was talking about me. And then my anger flared a little. I opened my mouth to say something, but snapped it shut. I couldn't afford a fight on my first day of school.

"You wanna say something to me, punk?" Clarisse asked. She grabbed me by my jacket and hauled me to my feet. I tripped over my seat, but managed to right myself in time to keep from falling over. "Huh? You wanna get beat up on your first day? Huh?"

I said nothing, but I glared at her intensely. I was having a hard time resisting the urge to punch her in the face. I had been in a few fights on the streets before, and I usually won, but this girl was significantly bigger than I was—plus she had those two minions behind her.

"Nothing to say, eh? Figures. I would have kicked your butt anyways."

"Clarisse, stop it," Liam said.

"And what are you gonna do, fly-boy? Stab me with your daddy's sword?"

Liam's eyes flashed dangerously with anger. "Maybe."

"Just leave," Annabeth intervened. "None of us want any trouble, right guys?" She shot a look at Liam and I. Liam seemed to back down, but I wasn't done yet.

"Nice bracelet." I said, gesturing to the gold band on her wrist. "Where'd you steal it from?"

I knew for a fact that she _had_ stolen it, because I had seen a bracelet exactly like it in the mall two weeks back—and it had been marked as one of a kind. I had considered stealing it myself, but I had decided against it; I had no use for the thing.

"That's it!" Clarisse yelled.

She swung a powerful punch at my face, but I ducked. Clarisse stumbled into the table clumsily and got a faceful of macaroni. The cheese got in her hair, the noodles got stuck up her nose, and her face looked like an oil painting. I don't think I want to know what they put in their macaroni and cheese. Clarisse came back up with her face all red with rage and her nostrils flaring. Her friends dragged her away from me and pulled her into the bathroom.

"Sorry," I called after her, and sat back down. The others were laughing so hard, milk came out of Beckendorf's nose.

"That," Liam said between laughs, "was the best thing I have ever seen."

I shrugged and took a sip of my chocolate milk. She had it coming.

 **x x x**

"So I heard you got in a fight today," Lawrence said as I got in his police car.

"It was not a fight," I denied. "Some girl took a swing at me. I didn't touch her. How'd you hear about it?"

He shrugged. "The principal told me when Clarisse came in with macaroni all over her face."

I hid my face in my hands. "Oh God. She went to the principal?"

Lawrence took a left. "Yeah, but he dismissed her story because of what the security cameras saw."

I took a big sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"But next time, don't agitate her."

"She was already agitated!"

"Whatever, kid. Other than the not-fight, how was your first day?"

I shrugged. I had received seven textbooks and a school-issued computer, so my locker was full and my bag heavy. The teachers had all assured me that whatever I had missed could easily be caught up with through tutoring. I had my first session on Thursday. "Not too bad for the first. Made some friends, I guess."

"Already?" Lawrence asked. "Don't tell me you have a boyfriend now, too?"

"Oh, ew! Gross! All the boys in that school are _so_ not my type." Did I have a type? I didn't know.

"Well, as long as you know what you're doing. Listen, I have to go to work as soon as I drop you off, so the spare key is under the mat."

"Okay," I said. "Anything interesting going on?"

Lawrence chortled. "Other than the freak weather? No. All we have right now are shoplifters."

I laughed. "Well, bring me back a couple donuts, okay?"

Lawrence didn't laugh. "That's not funny."

"Sure it is," I said. "Just not for you."

"Whatever." Lawrence pulled into the driveway. "Get out, kid."

I laughed, grabbed my bag, and got out of the police car. Lawrence started to back out of the driveway, but I yelled at him, "Make good choices!" I could see him roll his eyes as he drove away. He was warming up to me; I could see it.

And then I was alone. I walked up to the porch, grabbed the key from under the doormat, and entered the house lamely. Since it was Monday and I did not have homework, I was stuck on what to do for the afternoon. I could watch TV (boring, waste of activity), or I could study (ew, no), or I could take a walk. I think you can guess which one I picked.

The weather outside was normal, or at least, as normal as it could be for New York (in other words, about 50 degrees). I shrugged my jacket closer around myself and focused on staying warm. To stay warm, I needed to keep moving.

I walked from the house all the way up to Central Park, where I used to live ('cause I can say that now). That was about a mile, maybe two. I felt satisfied with myself and took in the sight of fall starting to turn the leaves different colors. Red, orange, yellow and green. It painted a different color over the park and the city, and it was beautiful. I breathed deeply and sat on a park bench across from an elderly couple feeding the birds.

I never thought I'd get to say this, but life was good. And I'd only had this life for a week! I sighed aloud and looked at the sky. Thunder arced across the sky and lightning followed soon after.

I looked back down from the sky. I hated heights. It made my stomach get all twisted up, and put me on edge. Come to think of it, my gut had been giving me this strange feeling ever since I arrived in the park. I cleared my throat and looked around, as if something around me could clear this feeling. I looked at the billboards, at the trees, even towards the thrift shop where I had bought the black jacket that I was wearing. But when my eyes landed on the thrift shop, I received another shock: the feeling in my gut intensified into every sense that I had, a tingling feeling that said, _No! Bad things are afoot!_ There was a person looking directly at me from the thrift shop window. They were large, brawny, with thinning black hair swept into a combover, as if that made up for the fact that he was slowly going bald. I had seen him around a couple times, and I had just assumed he owned the thrift shop. But here's the real kicker: the man only had one big, bulbous blue eye.

I blinked hard and rubbed my eyes, sure what I was seeing was an illusion. But when I looked again, he was gone.

Had I imagined the whole thing?

I rubbed my eyes once more and stood from the bench. I wanted to know if I was hallucinating. No, I _needed_ to know if I was hallucinating, because so far in my life, I had not been crazy. Maybe Clarisse hit me in the head and I just didn't remember. But I needed to check it out, if only to make my gut feeling of danger disappear.

So I stood from the bench and walked cautiously to the thrift shop, fingering my hunting knife at my belt (it never left my side, except when at Goode). I do that sometimes when I'm nervous, and sometimes people think I'm going to stab them. I hoped desperately that this encounter wouldn't end up like that.

When I arrived at the entrance to the thrift shop, the blinds on the windows were closed, though I swear they had been open a moment ago. I swallowed nervously and tried the door. It was unlocked, so I walked right inside the shop. This time, when the bell rang overhead, I jumped. The inside of the shop smelled odd; like sheep skin and wool. I looked normal all around, but the smell was originating from the room behind the counter with the cash register.

"Hello?" I asked the empty room. "Is anyone here?" I know—smart right? But I was tired and had never been in a situation like this before. I didn't exactly know what to do.

"Hello, darling." It was the voice of the cashier with the big Afro, but I didn't see her anywhere. It sounded like she was in the room behind the cash register.

"Uh, is everything all right?" I asked. "I saw the store owner hovering by the window, and I wanted to know if everything's okay."

The cashier paused. After a moment, she said, "Yes, yes, everything's fine, dear. I'll tell you what: how about you help me move some boxes back here and I'll give you twenty dollars?"

The feeling in my gut intensified and I bit my lip. Something about this didn't feel right. "Why are you back there? What's in the boxes?"

"Just come back here, girl."

I noticed uncomfortably that she had dropped with the "darlings" and "dears." The hairs on my neck stood up and I placed my hands on the hunting knife as I slowly approached the room.

There was a black, silky curtain in front of the entrance to the room, and I hesitated. To open it, I would have to take my hands off my knife. And I could hear heavy breathing behind the curtain—breathing that should not belong to a woman with an 80s haircut.

"Where are you?" I asked.

The woman coughed. "I'm in the back."

I could see the curtain rustling just slightly. This was a very bad idea. What if she was, like, a serial killer, or a kidnapper? I didn't have a phone. I couldn't call for help. And I was already in way too deep to run out now.

I took my right hand and slowly, very slowly, moved the curtain out of the way.

And then I screamed.

Because the woman with the Afro wasn't a woman at all. Whatever it was wasn't even human. It was a tall... _thing_ with big yellow teeth, furry arms, and one big blue eye holding a bronze club who was about to smash me into smithereens.

"Die, half-blood!" the...Cyclops yelled at me in a distinctly more male voice.

The only thing that saved me was the fact that I whipped the curtain back in his face. I could hear him spluttering and cursing and dived behind the counter right as his giant club game smashing down where I used to be standing.

"Oh my God," I breathed. _Alex is going insane._

The cyclops hammered his club into the counter above my head, and I scrambled away as he turned the counter into marble chunks. I jumped to my feet and ran behind a bookshelf, but the cyclops followed, swinging his massive club left and right, knocking over shelves and books alike.

"DIE!" he roared.

"Sorry!" I yelled back, sliding under a piano and coming up running on the other side. The cyclops, however, plowed right through it as if it were nothing.

How the hell was supposed to I kill this thing? I took out my hunting knife as I ran—hoping maybe I could injure it just long enough for me to escape—but I didn't realize until it was too late that I had hit the end of the store. I ended up bouncing straight off the wall and landed on my back, staring up at the cyclops.

Well, I certainly never thought I'd go this way. Maybe dying in my sleep, or being stabbed and mugged in the middle of the night. Not being crushed by this...thing with a metal club!

The cyclops stomped downwards on me—probably intending to crush my head—but I rolled out of the way just in time.

"Roaaaooor!" He reached down, but this time I was too slow to prevent him from grabbing me around my neck. "Zeus. Will. Be. Pleased." He spoke staccato-like, separating his words as if they were their own sentences.

Wait a minute. Did he just say _Zeus?_

The cyclops started to crush down on my neck, suffocating me, so I did the only thing I could in that situation: I took the hunting knife (from by my side, where I still had it gripped) and stabbed him right in his bloodshot blue eye.

But then the strangest thing happened: the blade went right through his head as if he were never there. Upon impact, the cyclops exploded in this yellow powder, disintegrating as if I had poured acid on his head, or burned him into ashes. The only thing left was the lingering smell of his breath and sulfur.

I dropped to the ground with a _thud._

I was alive.

I was alone.

 **Please review!**

 **This chapter has been edited.**


	5. I DROWN TO DEATH

**200 views. Whoo! In all honesty, I thought this would get about 3 views. So this was a pleasant surprise.**

 **Disclaimer: Blah blah, Percy Jackson isn't mine, blah blah...**

 _I am not going crazy, I am not going crazy, I am not going crazy. I am. Not. Going. Crazy._

I was going crazy.

Shaking out the...cyclops dust...from my hair, I pinched myself extra hard to see if this was some kind of bizarre dream. Obviously not, considering that I didn't wake up and my throat hurt like the devil from where the cyclops had choked me.

I coughed, rubbed my throat, and examined my knife closely. Maybe something about it had caused that thing to spontaneously combust into dust.

The blade was a clean, glinting silver, despite the fact that I had just driven it into the cyclops' eye. And as far as I could tell, it was actually made of silver. Nothing particularly special about it. I tried to remember where I had actually gotten the hunting knife, but I drew a blank. Why couldn't I remember?

I stepped over the powder pile cautiously, as if it could reanimate itself and bash my head in with its club. For all I knew, it could still happen.

I wondered what had happened to the the cyclops was holding her hostage or something. Maybe the cyclops had eaten her.

"Okay!" I said aloud, wiping beads of sweat off my forehead. "That was Alex's creepy thought for the day. Let's go find that cashier...And I'm talking to myself."

The inside of the room behind the counter smelled absolutely horrid; like sheepskin and farts. With a hint of motor oil. I gagged briefly and covered my nose before entering the room completely. It was a rather small room actually, and there was no sign of the cashier. But there was a pile of bones in the corner.

"Oh God." I muttered. In another corner was a pile of rusted and bent swords, and a pile of wool. I wondered if the cyclops ate sheep or something for his meals, with a side of human. I took a step forward, and my foot kicked something small and shiny. Leaning down and hoping that it wasn't just some form of bone, I realized that I was standing on a pile of golden coins. They were about as big as a girl scout cookie and each had different images of people on one side; a man throwing lightning bolts, a man driving a chariot in front of the sun, and even a man holding a trident. On the other side was an image of what looked like the Empire State Building. On a whim, I swept them up into my hands and counted. There was about 30, maybe 35 of them. I grinned to myself and stuffed as many as I could into my pockets.

Then I decided it was time to get out of there. I'd had enough of this to conclude that I was not hallucinating. I also needed a cough drop and some painkiller for my throat. Checking to make sure that the cyclops was really dead, I turned and ran as fast as I could towards home.

 **x x x**

"Alex? Alex? Alex!" Annabeth hit me in the arm.

I jumped. "Huh? Sorry. Must've zoned out."

"No kidding. You've been staring off into space all lunch." Percy said.

"You look like you haven't slept a wink." Thalia added.

"That's because I haven't." I said with a yawn.

We were sitting in the cafeteria on Wednesday. The past two nights, I had been unable to sleep. Visions of the giant one-eyed monster had kept me up, and I often just settled for sipping apple cider and attempting to read my English book. We had to write a creative story for Mr. Blofis that had something to do with Greek Mythology. Fun, especially considering that I knew nothing about Greek Myths. My story was a more modern version of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth.

"Eh, we'll just have Clarisse hit you on the head a couple times. Should knock you right out." Beckendorf said.

"Very funny." I said.

Liam sat down at the table with a sigh. "Percy, your stepdad teaches hard stuff. I was up all night working on that story so I could turn it in next class."

Percy shrugged and sank down a little in his seat. "You're telling me. He's extra hard on me in his classes."

"Who's Percy's stepdad?" I asked Annabeth in a low voice.

"The english teacher, Mr. Blofis. Nice guy, actually."

I hmmed and took a bite of my green beans.

"What's wrong with Red?" Liam asked, pointing at me with his fork.

"Red?" I asked, obviously not catching on to the nickname. I was too tired for thinking.

He gestured towards my hair. "Your hair is literally bright red. You sure you haven't dyed it?"

I crossed my arms and glared at him. "No, I haven't."

"She hasn't been sleeping." Thalia intervened. "Probably having nightmares about your face."

"Hey!"

I rolled my eyes and picked at my picked at my food, suddenly not hungry. Could everyone see that I couldn't sleep?

"Seriously though," Liam said in a more serious voice. "You don't look so good, Red."

I shrugged and forced myself to take a bite of my Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich (with artificial peanut butter!). I'd take a nap during Science. Or maybe Study Hall. Or maybe now.

I yawned again as the bell rang for the end of the period and shoved my unopened dorito bag into my backpack and stood from the table with the others. I think my next class was...English. Great. Time to turn in my story, which would probably suck due to lack of sleep.

I sighed and exited the cafeteria. As soon as I got home from school, I would either take a shot of coffee or take a nap. Maybe both, but probably not in that order. Because the fact was, I felt like crap. I could barely remember the directions to Mr. Blofis' class, and I had memorized them on the first day so I wouldn't get lost. My head was pounding. My stomach hurt. I didn't know how much longer I could go on like this.

When I arrived at Mr. Blofis' classroom, I walked in, dropped my paper on his desk, and plopped into my desk in the back of the classroom. Since I was back here, maybe nobody would notice if I caught some Z's...

But before I had even finished the thought, I was asleep.

In my dream, I was in a forest. There was no light except for the red light of a blood moon overhead. I tried to move, but my feet were chained to the ground. Overhead, lightning struck and thunder boomed. The forest smelled like smoke and several white timber wolves ran past me as lightning arced right across the moon. Fire crackled somewhere in the distance.

Somewhere, a deep, powerful voice yelled, " _Bring her to me, dead and in pieces!_ "

Fire started to consume the trees and foliage in front of me. Run, it whispered.

When I tried to run this time, my feet were unshackled and I dashed off where the wolves had ran. I didn't even know where I was going, but I knew I had to get away from the voice that wanted me dead.

" _She doesn't know,_ " A voice pleaded. " _Just let her live in peace!_ "

" _She will know eventually_."

I continued to run as smoke filled my lungs and thunder crashed above me. I could hear wolves howling and people screaming far away. Before I could figure out where the sounds were coming from, I reached a clearing in the woods that overlooked a massive ocean. I nearly fell off the edge of the cliff, but I stopped just in time to keep from plummeting to my death. I took a deep breath and tried to turn around, but lightning struck the ground right in front of me, knocking me off the cliff and into the ocean below.

As I drowned, the only thing I saw was the figure of a tall man in a sky-blue robe standing on the cliff he had knocked me off.

I gasped and jumped in my desk. Several people gave me strange looks, including Mr. Blofis, but I wiped a strand of hair out of my face and tried to look casual. I didn't just fall asleep in class.

"Next time, Alex," Mr. Blofis said,"don't fall asleep in class."

"Sorry, sir." I said, shaking just slightly. "Just...haven't been sleeping well."

"It's alright. Just don't do it again."

"Yes sir."

I turned to the textbook passage that everyone was reading and tried to concentrate. I really did. But I couldn't help thinking, Why was that dream so vivid? And why was it different than the others that I've had?

One thing was for sure.

My life just got ten times weirder.

 **Okay, so this chapter is super short, but I am very tired and don't feel like writing a full one. Please review, and all that. Thanks.**


	6. GAH!

**Okay, so I got some much needed sleep, primed my spell check, and got back to writing. I also made this chapter a little longer to make up for the last short one. Enjoy, lovelies.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series, though that would be a wish come true.**

It was about a month before anything interesting happened. In that time, I thought I was doing pretty well. My tutoring with Annabeth was going well, I was actually enjoying my English class, and I was beginning to understand my Greek class. It was no harder to read for me than English, surprisingly, so I wasn't having that hard of a time. Sometimes, Mr. Brunner even dressed up like a roman soldier, though I don't know how he put on the getup. My nightmares still plagued me, but I was able to get more sleep anyways.

Overall, I was doing pretty good for a hobo plucked from the streets and placed in the middle of High School. I was proud of myself, for once. (And that rarely happened)

But the weather got colder. I had to convince Lawrence to buy me a sweatshirt or too so I didn't freeze to death in the large snowstorms that became more common.

I made sweater paws in a green sweatshirt as I stared at a Greek sentence. It read Maru άρπαξε την κουβέρτα, but I wasn't sure whether it said "Mary grabbed the blanket," or "Mary growled the bear." I'm pretty sure it was the first, but you never knew in Mr. Brunner's class.

"Okay, class," Mr. Brunner said, breaking the heavy silence of first period. "Thank you for completing the bell-work as I finished up some important work of my own. I believe the correct answer was 'Mary grabbed the blanket.'"

I pumped my fist as the rest of the class groaned. I was right most of the time now, and I was surprised with how quickly I was picking some of these things up.

"Yes, yes, I know." Mr. Brunner said. "Mistakes happen, unfortunately. One can't help but wonder where mankind would be without them."

Someone coughed in the back. Mr. Brunner often mused like this, thinking more like a philosipher than a high-school teacher. I couldn't help but wonder what he had majored in when he was in college sometimes.

"Ah, yes!" He said, snapping back to reality. "A project. Today I will be assigning you all into groups of two - and no, you don't get to choose your own groups - and you will _all_ be acting out a scene of a disagreement from Greek mythology. In Greek."

That elicited some mixed reactions from the class. Some of them groaned in frustration, some of them actually cheered, and the rest were neutral like me. It's not that I didn't care, but I was neither thrilled nor upset. Acting I guess I can handle. And I can read greek. But actually _speaking_ it? I wasn't so sure I could do it.

"You will all be writing an essay to match. Also, each of you will issue statements afterwards about whose fault you think the disagreement was. Debates are allowed. This is a big grade, people, so try your best." And without further dialogue, he wheeled over to the front row with a clipboard and started handing people pieces of paper. Scripts, I guessed.

"What do you think some of the options are for the myths?" Liam asked me, leaning over so that he could speak to me from a desk away.

I shrugged. "I dunno. Knowing Mr. Brunner, it'll probably be something interesting though."

Liam snorted. "Hopefully."

By the time Mr. Brunner had wheeled over to us in the back row, there were only a few sheets of paper left. Lucky me. And, by process of elimination, there were only a few people I could be paired with. There was the murderer from the office on my first day, a nerdy kid who looked like he wanted to do all the work, a jock who was thumb wrestling _himself_ , and Liam.

I was kinda hesitant to be paired with anyone of those people, even Liam. I mean, honestly? I didn't know much about the guy, other than the fact that he's apparently good with a sword and runs Cross Country. But I didn't know what kind of person he was, and to me that was important, even for some school project about greek mythology.

"Alex," Mr. Brunner said as he read off his clipboard, "you will be paired with Mr. Bentley. Pick a paper."

Great. Just my luck. I picked a piece of paper at random and ignored the big grin that Liam flashed my way. "What did we get?" He asked me.

I looked down at the paper half-heartedly. I honestly didn't care what myth we got. "Uh...the Seduction of Callisto."

"What?" Liam asked. "No way, I thought that wasn't even school appropriate." He snatched the paper out of my hands and read it himself, as if I were mistaken. "Huh."

"What?" I said. "What's it about?"

Liam's ears turned red. "Urm...it's about how Zeus raped one of Artemis' hunters."

"Oh," I said. "That's fun."

"Just wait, it gets better." He said. "Artemis got mad at the huntress once she learned about it, turned her into a bear, and had her hunted and killed."

"Great," I said. "A cheery story to start off the week."

 **x x x**

"Gah!" Annabeth said as she sat down with a huff. "Seaweed Brain is disgusting!"

I spat out my Mac and cheese and stared at her. "Is that some kind of new lunch item?"

Thalia elbowed me. "Percy is Seaweed Brain."

"Ooh."

"What he do this time?" Grover sighed.

"Ch-I mean, Mr. Brunner paired us together for the Greek project, and he thinks that Athena punished Medusa wrongfully."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"Poseidon and Medusa were hooking up in Athena's temple, so she made Medusa super ugly." Beckendorf summarized.

"Well, to be fair..." Grover started, but when Annabeth shot him a glare he shut his mouth.

"I mean, Mr. Brunner just gave us the assignment yesterday, and already we're arguing!"

"You both have a disposition for it," Liam said. "Speaking of which, where is Percy?"

"Getting tutored by _Rachel_ ," Annabeth said. She spat out the name as if it were poison.

The table remained awkwardly silent. In the month that I'd been here, I noticed these moments a lot. It was as if they wanted to say something more, but they couldn't. It was odd, but I've never commented.

"Okay...Changing the topic," Lima turned to me as he spoke. "We're not gonna debate ours, are we? I heard a couple guys saying he's grading extra hard if we do debate."

I shook my head feverishly. "Definitely not."

"Great!" Liam said. "Also, we probably need to get to work on that essay."

"Yes," I agreed. "Er...library? I don't have a computer."

"Neither do I. How about tomorrow after school lets out?"

"Done."

 **x x x**

The New York Public Library was big. Very big. It had large front steps and columns that made it look like a picture taken right from Greece (Minus all the girls snapping selfies and eating churros). The inside was even more impressive. It had rows and rows of wooden tables stocked full of people reading books. I had no idea they were so popular.

I met Liam over in the computer section, where he was dressed in an orange sweatshirt labeled with Goode High's Track team name. He was in the middle of squinting at a book on journalism.

"Hard time reading?" I asked as I placed my bag on the floor.

Liam looked up at me and closed the book, placing a receipt on his page as a book mark. "I guess you could say that," he said. He looked embarrassed. "I'm dyslexic."

"Hey, it's cool," I said, sitting next to him in front of the computer. "So am I."

"What?" He said. "But you're such a good writer!"

I blinked, confused. "What?"

"Oh, you didn't know? Mr. Blofis pins the best essays and stories on his board. Yours is on there every time."

I frowned. I did not know that.

"Sorry," Liam said. "Let's just focus on the essay."

"Good idea," I said. "Uh, did he post the rubric?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." I turned to the computer and pulled up Mr. Brunner's website. The rubric was the first thing he had posted, with the sub-heading of, " _Do well_." I clicked on it.

Liam whistled. "Basically, we have to put everything we say and do into an essay format."

"Great," I sighed. "First we actually have to do research on the story."

"Pull up a new tab." Liam said, pointing to the top of the screen as if I didn't know how to do it.

"I know how to do it."

"Okay, okay. Chill out."

I typed "the seduction of callisto" into google search and a whole bunch of search results came up.

"Hey, move over." Liam said.

"Sure, go ahead." All those words were making me dizzy. I didn't know how he could read all that.

"I'm good at researching things." Liam said as he scrolled through various lists slowly. "Wanna be a journalist when I graduate."

"Like, a news reporter?" I asked. I had a hard time imagining Liam sitting in front of a desk and reporting "Breaking News" to the world.

He laughed. "Well, kind of. I wanna write newspapers."

I nodded. That seemed more his style. "Seems like you'd be good at it."

He shrugged. "I just like telling people what's really going on. Some newspapers just sugarcoat the truth."

"Oh, wait, go back up." I said, pointing to a link that he had just visited. He clicked on it and a summary of the Greek myth popped onto the screen. I read it aloud and slowly, so I could read the harder words. "Callisto was a...nymph, and the daughter of...Lycaon? Who was the king of...Acadia. She was a follower of Artemis and had taken a vow to forever keep her...virginity. But...Zeus saw her and...instantly thought she was...beautiful. To get her, he...d-disguised himself as Artemis herself and...a-attempted to...s-seduce her. But...Callisto...r-resisted, and eventually Zeus turned back into himself and...r-raped her." I turned to Liam. "Pleasant story, eh?"

He snorted and continued reading for me, also pausing for the more difficult words. "One day...A-Artemis and the other...huntr-tr-tresses? Are bathing in a river. C-Callisto...resists and makes a whole bunch of...excuses, but Artemis still finds out that she's pregnant. Angrily...she turned Callisto...into a b-bear and shot her with her...hunt...hernt...huntref...oh, screw it." He looked away from the screen and sat back in his chair in frustration. Though he may have screwed up a couple words, he was still a better reader than I was.

"I get what you mean." I said. "And in the end he transforms Callisto and their son into constellations."

"Right," he said. "The theme of the whole story is transformation."

"Yeah!" I agreed. "First Zeus transforms into Artemis to try and seduce Callisto."

"Then he transforms her from a non-pregnant nymph into a pregnant one using the traditional process." He winked exaggeratedly.

I rolled my eyes and continued the train of thought. "And then Artemis transforms Callisto into a bear and hunts her."

"Which is totally unfair, by the way." Liam added.

"Well, maybe not." I said.

" _What?_ " He said. "She got raped and turned into a bear. How is that fair?"

"I'm not saying that it's fair," I said. "But it was Zeus's fault in the first place, and Callisto didn't tell Artemis about the pregnancy. Wouldn't you be ticked if someone you trusted was lying to you?"

"Well, yeah, but I wouldn't turn her into a freaking bear!"

"I'm not saying that Artemis did the right thing!"

"Well, it sure sounds like it!"

"I just said that's not what I'm saying!"

"Then what _are_ you saying?"

I took a deep breath to rein my temper in. "I'm saying that it's Zeus's fault, and he should've been the one punished. And maybe it was Artemis' fault too, and possibly Callisto's. But it was mainly Zeus's."

"He's a god, Zeus can't be punished."

"Oh, so it's okay for his kids to get punished but not him?"

"That is _not_ what I'm saying."

"Welcome to the club."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Forget it," he said finally. "You're the most impossible person I've ever met!"

"You're the most insufferable person I've ever met!"

"You're —"

"Shh!" A librarian told us. "You two are the loudest ones here! Get out until you're both cooled off."

"Fine." We said in unison. We glared at each other.

"Ass," I muttered under my breath as I stormed out of the building.

 **x x x**

"Is everything okay?" Percy asked us the next day.

"Fine," I said.

"Peachy," Liam said. He glared at me. I glared back.

"Obviously." Beckendorf said.

"Something with the project?" Thalia prodded.

We both said nothing, so the others must have assumed (correctly) that that was the case.

"Mr. Brunner did this project on purpose to get us all to fight with each other!" Percy exclaimed angrily. It was a good thing Annabeth was tutoring some other kids, or else we would have had another full-blown argument between the two.

"Well, to be fair, I think it's just you guys," Grover said cautiously, as if he were on the bomb squad, and we were all nukes about to blow.

"How so?" Beckendorf asked. He and Grover were by far the most level-headed ones at the table when it came to stuff like this.

"Well, only the people at this table have been biting each other's heads off. Everyone else is fine; either that, or they don't want to get into a debate in the middle of the class."

"That —" Percy started, but Thalia shot him a look, and he shut up quickly. I once again got the feeling that there was something going on at this lunch table that I didn't know about.

I took a bite out of my peaches and thought about it. They all skirted around certain subjects as if they were toxic, like Mr. Brunner, Percy's stepdad, and even when Annabeth tutored during lunch. They all acted as if she were doing something top secret on Thursdays, but they pretended like she was tutoring freshman.

I sighed aloud. Why doesn't anyone tell me anything?

 **x x x**

On Friday morning, I rushed into Mr. Brunner's class, running late. I had accidentally slept past my alarm and woke up ten minutes before Lawrence had to take me to school. So I had thrown on some random clothes, did my hair, grabbed my bag, and flown downstairs to the car without brushing my teeth or eating breakfast.

Luckily, the classroom was in chaos, so nobody noticed when I jumped over two kids who were having a spitball war and raced to my desk. Mr. Brunner was reading a book as if nothing were happening, but as soon as I sat down, the bell rang, and he snapped his head up to a full out spitball civil war.

"Class!" He shouted, in a firm voice. He sometimes had moments like this where his eyes would harden and he would shout at us with more authority than he usually portrayed for himself. Sometimes he would even grip the sides of his wheelchair as if he wanted to get up, but that was impossible. Annabeth had told me on my first day that he was paralyzed from the waist down.

Instantly the spit balls stopped flying and the class quieted.

"Thank you." He relaxed in his chair and wheeled to the front of the classroom, the dreaded clipboard in hand. "We will be starting from the front of the classroom." I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in my desk. Maybe there wouldn't be enough time for us to present and we would have to go on Monday.

But, alas, no. All the other groups went relatively fast, save Percy and Annabeth's. They argued in front of the class for at least five minutes before Mr. Brunner interrupted them and forced them to stop. Both of their faces had been red from frustration and embarrassment as they had sat back in their seats. Almost unconsciously, I glanced at Liam. I _really_ didn't want to end up like that in front of the entire class.

"And last, but certainly not least, we have Mister Bentley and Miss Clayton."

Liam and I looked at each other as we stood from our desks and walked to the front of the class awkwardly. I pulled out our typed essay and placed it on his desk before standing in front of one of the two podiums that he had set up in front of the class.

"You may begin whenever you are ready." Mr. Brunner said.

Liam shot me a nervous smile before beginning. The script we had been given was written entirely in Greek, and it started with Zeus thinking aloud about what he had done. After that, it switches to Artemis having a one-sided conversation with Callisto. Then Artemis storms up to Olympus, the palace of the gods, and starts an arguement with Zeus.

"Θα το μετανιώσεις , πατέρα," I say, and the scene ends. It was greek for, "You will regret this, father." You can tell Artemis is pretty steamed, right?

The class clapped half-heartedly, save Mr. Brunner. He was pretty enthusiastic about all of the presentations, but he seemed pretty happy about ours, which I guess was a good thing. "Great job," he said. "You may issue your statements now."

Liam and I glanced at each other. I could tell we were both thinking the same thing: _No debate, okay?_ I did not want to be forced to go back to my seat like I was a toddler who couldn't control their temper tantrum.

Liam went first. He straightened the edge of his orange sweatshirt and cleared his throat before going. And then Liam Bentley surprised me. "Er...I think there was equal fault on both parts."

"An interesting standpoint," Mr. Brunner said. "Very rarely is the fault on both of the gods. In the myths, of course. And Alex?" He looked at me. "Your statement?"

I looked at Liam, then back at Mr. Brunner. He was doing me a serious favor, and I would have to thank him for it later. "I agree. I think it was both of their faults."

The class awwed. Apparently, they had been expecting a fight.

I felt oddly satisfied that I had disappointed them.

 **...and this chapter ending sucks. Hopefully I'll have the next one up soon. Oh, and I also made a thing of what I think Liam looks like (FaceQ is my friend). Alex'll be in the next chapter. Just take out the spaces, because for some reason it won't take it with the link normally.**

:/ / p i n. i t/QCncDRH

 **Please review, guys!**


	7. I BECOME DOG FOOD

**Seventh chapter. Yay. Sorry I didn't update sooner.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series or any part of the Jackson series, blah blah blah.**

"Hey!" Liam said as he jogged up to me after school. "Wait up, Red!"

"Hm?" I turned around to face him, nearly falling face-first onto the road. Lawrence had told me this morning that I had to walk home from school, because the police chief was making him stay late for a case they almost had cracked. I was cool with it, mostly because it was a nice day and the house wasn't that far away. "What?"

He stopped at a spot in front of me and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up just slightly. "Um...sorry."

I blinked. I had almost completely forgotten about the fact that we had argued. Honestly, I was over it by then. But I didn't understand quite completely why he was apologizing. "For what?"

He stuck his hands in his pockets uncomfortably. "For...you know. Getting all mad and stuff."

I looked him over. He looked pretty nervous, like he wasn't used to doing stuff like this. "Liam, it's fine. I'm kind of a hothead too."

He scratched his head. "No, it's not. I realize that we're both stubborn —" I snorted. "—and that you're actually pretty cool. So just accept my apology?"

"Apology accepted. And thank you, by the way, for saying that the blame was on both. Saved us the trouble of a debate."

Liam smiled. "You're welcome. Are you walking home?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. Couldn't get picked up today, so I have to walk."

"Where ya headed?"

"It's not far from here. You're welcome to join me, if you want."

"Sure. I have to walk home anyways."

He walked up to my left and we started walking down the street towards my house (I've noticed that I keep calling it "mine" lately). I think it was maybe a mile away, which I was fine with, because I've walked farther before.

"How's the journalism coming?" I asked him, kicking a rock as we walked. A car went past us, pushing air into our faces.

Liam snorted. "I don't know. The school doesn't have a newspaper, not officially, and nobody else wants to hire a sixteen-year-old for the newspaper."

"You're sixteen?"

"Yeah. I started preschool a year late."

"So I guess I can't tell you to respect your elders."

"Nope." He looked up at the clear blue sky. "It's such a nice day out. I wish people didn't take it for granted." He pointed at other kids on the sidewalk opposite us texting on their cellphones.

"God, I hate it when people do that. There is so much to see out here, and you're completely missing it when you do stuff like that." I said. There had been several times when I was in my tree in Central Park where I would spend all day people watching. I would see people on there phones nearly the entire time they were there, and I hated it so much that I threw pebbles at them. They never could figure out where the flying stones were coming from.

Liam observed me curiously. "You know, I think you're one of the first people to agree with me. Some girls just think there's more on the internet than in real life."

I shrugged again. "I've always been an outdoors person." Literally.

Never before had I met another person who shared my view about the outdoors. We walked in silence for a few more minutes. I liked looking at the trees and flowers for the same reason that I liked living in a tree; it was peaceful. I thought that it was going to rain soon, because the ground smelled like it.

"Alex?" Liam asked a few minutes after our original conversation. "What school did you go to before Goode?"

"What?"

"You transferred here from another school, right? What was it?"

I bit my lip and thought about telling him that I came from the school of "Teenagers who LIve In Trees," but I thought better of it. I didn't know how he would react. "I came from Ohio, actually. You probably wouldn't know the school."

He looked at me skeptically, and I could tell that he doubted my story. But he said nothing, and after a moment we sunk back into another peaceful silence. Well, as silence was a limited commodity in New York, we said nothing and listened to the sounds of cars honking over the sounds of birds screeching at each other.

I allowed my mind to slip back to one month ago, when I thought I had encountered that...thing. Last week I had walked by the shop to find an empty lot where it used to be. When I had asked someone from the store next door, they had said that there'd never been a shop there. But that didn't explain how I had come to own the pair of clothes that I had bought there. And the fact that I'd had a sore throat for nearly a week afterwards. But even so, I often thought that I had just imagined it. I had read somewhere once that if you imagine something is wrong with you and believe it, your body mimics the pain. Maybe that was what had happened to me. But sometimes I still see something out of the corner of my eye, like a shadow that I can't spot in time before it disappears. And then other times, I could have sworn I saw a lady with a snake tail near Central Park, but then she disappeared. I had also noticed that the dogs around here have been super big lately, as if they all had taken a couple steroids or something like that. And then I try to convince myself that what I'm seeing isn't real, but I never really accomplish it.

"Hey Liam?" I asked cautiously. "Do you ever see things that you can't explain?"

Instantly he tensed up. "What? Why are you asking?"

"No reason," I lied. "Just saw a documentary recently."

"Oh." He relaxed. "Okay."

But his response had convinced me of one thing: I wasn't the only one in New York who saw things that were impossible. And I wasn't going crazy.

I could feel Liam observing me carefully as we continued to walk. Apparently, my question had alerted him to the point where he must have thought something was wrong with me. I ignored him. We were so close to my house that I could see it in the distance.

"Is that your house?" Liam asked. Nice change of subject. "It's huge!"

Believe me, I know. "My guardian is kinda loaded."

Liam looked at me. "Guardian?"

I bit my lip, hard, and stared at the ground.

"Sorry." He seemed sincerely sympathetic.

"Nah, it's fine." I said. "Never knew my parents."

Liam fiddled with a golden ring on his finger that I hadn't seen before. "I know how you feel. I've never really known my dad that well either. He...er...died in a car accident when I was really young."

"Sorry for your loss." I said.

"Thanks." He looked up at the sky. "Sometimes—"

I didn't hear him over the sound of a massive growling sound in the bushes behind me. The hairs stood up my neck, and that gut feeling returned. It sounded almost like...

"Alex," Liam said, very serious, hand creeping towards the ring on his finger. "Don't move."

"Oh god. I am crazy." I said. The growling intensified as I spoke, and the gut feeling was so intense that I felt like hurling.

"Duck!" Liam yelled.

 _Don't have to tell me twice._

I did as he said at the last possible moment, and something big and dark and terrifying flew over my head. I scrambled to the side so I could get a better view of it and tried to control my breathing so I wouldn't pass out. It was a black hound the size of a small elephant, with blood-red eyes and fangs like knives. And Liam was fighting it.

Okay, I shouldn't really say fighting. More like jumping out of the way each time so he wouldn't get turned into sliced meat. But as I watched I could see that he was holding some kind of bronze sword in his hand, and I couldn't help but wonder where he had gotten it from.

"Run, Alex!" Liam shouted. The giant dog snapped at his sword arm, but Liam danced out of the way at the last possible moment. But he would never be able to kill that thing so long as he was its sole attention.

Without thinking, I drew the hunting knife from my belt and shouted, "Hey!"

The hound turned from Liam with a terrifying growl, and when it saw me its lava-red eyes darkened with hate. I swallowed. With a snarl, the beast leaped towards me, dagger-like claws extended to rip me to shreds. I ducked down, thinking, Alex, you're stupid. You're going to die, and then that thing'll kill Liam too.

The giant dog landed on the other side of me, and turned, prepared to pounce again. I gripped the knife in my hand tightly, so that it wouldn't slip due to my sweaty palms.

"This is fun," Liam said, twirling his sword expertly and joining me at my left.

"You and I are going to have a conversation," I said, glancing at him quickly. He was grinning, as if he actually enjoyed fighting the miniature rhinoceros.

The thing lunged towards us again, and when it leaped past I received a nasty cut on my forearm. Ouch.

"I'll distract it," I told Liam. "You kill it." He nodded to show that he understood.

"Hey Mutface!" I yelled again at the beast. It turned towards me with a snarl and a bark that made the sidewalk shake under my feet. "Shit." It lunged at me and I couldn't dodge in time. I ended up on my back with a 300-pound hound from hell on top of me. It dug its claws into my forearms as I struggled to push it off of me.

"Liam!" I shouted. "Now would be a good time!"

Suddenly I heard a swoosh and then a pathetic whimper, and then the dog melted off of me and faded into the ground as a shadow. I was left on the ground with bleeding forearms and panting like an idiot while Liam swore in Greek.

"Eímai kaló gia átomo típota!" He shouted, which I would later realize I understood perfectly as Greek for, "I'm a good for nothing person!"

"Okay," I winced, because the wounds on my arms hurt like hell as I stood. "What...what was that?"

Liam must have suddenly realized that I was not dead, because he slapped himself and rushed over to where I was. "Gods, I am the biggest idiot in the world, I should have known it'd be after you." He plopped his bag on the ground and pulled out a plastic bag filled with square cubes. "Here. Eat this." He handed me one and I looked at him skeptically. "It'll help, I promise."

I sighed, winced again, and shoved the cube in my mouth. And then I recoiled, because I thought for sure that it would taste like some kind of cracker. But instead it tasted like Grape Crush — a rare treat that I had received back in Foster Care. Solidified Grape Crush. But there was more; other than just tasting like my favorite drink, I could feel the cuts on my arm beginning to heal. When I ate another, they had healed completely, though I did feel a little feverish.

"You." I pointed at Liam with my knife. "Talk. Now."

He raised his hands in surrender, bronze sword glinting in the sunlight. "O-o-okay. Let's just calm down."

"I will calm down. Once you convince me I'm not insane."

"Okay! I will. But you probably should talk to the others."

"Others? Liam, _what_ others?"

 **x x x**

As it turns out, "others" meant all the people at our lunch table. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Beckendorf, and Thalia were all waiting at the school entrance. After Liam had put his sword away by pressing some kind of button to turn it into a ring, he told me he was going to make a call and disappeared for about five minutes. Then he told me we were going back to the school. And then I...may have cursed at him rapidly when he dragged me all the way back to see the others.

"Does she know?" Grover asked.

"I think she has an inkling." Liam replied. "A hellhound attacked us."

"Is that what that thing was?" I demanded. "A hellhound?"

The others seemed to realize that I was actually present, and they all looked at me with a sense of curiosity.

"She smells different." Grover said finally.

"You _were_ following me that day!" I exclaimed.

Percy slapped the guy. "I thought you said she didn't see you!"

"I thought she didn't! But I swear she's a half-blood!"

"Wait, wait, wait." I said, holding up and hand and taking a breath. "What exactly _is_ a half-blood?"

They all looked at each other, which only fueled my anger more.

"You need to see Chiron." Annabeth said.

 **Please review. Also, here is Alex's picture, not that anybody cares. (Again, remove the spaces) I've had a rough week.**

p i n. i t /OvKqx6A


	8. EXPLANATIONS

**Ugh testing uGh. I am sooo tired.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series, and if you've read these Author's notes at the beginning of each chapter, you should know this by now.**

Annabeth, Liam, Thalia, Percy, Beckendorf, and Grover led me inside the school towards Mr. Brunner's classroom. For why, I still didn't know, but the others told me things along the way.

"Was that your first monster?" Beckendorf asked me.

"You mean those things are real? I'm not insane?" I said.

"Chiron will explain more, but no, you're not." Annabeth said.

"And if by monster you mean the cyclops thing that attacked me?"

" _What_?" Everyone turned to face Grover, who was shaking violently. "I h-h-hate Cyclopes."

"It must have been a Northern Cyclops," Annabeth theorized. "That's very rare for a kid to survive, let alone for their first monster."

"Believe me," I said. "I barely survived. That thing had its hands around my throat before I managed to stab it in the eyeball."

The others looked impressed. "The eyeball?" Thalia asked. "Nice job, rookie."

I ignored the fact that she called me a rookie. If it were up to me, I would have ran all the way back to my tree in Central Park, climbed to the highest branch, and stay there until I was old and withered. But I had a feeling that they would still be able to find me, no matter where I ran. And I'd much rather be near these people than one more of those monster-things.

"So who is this Chiron guy?" I asked.

"He's Mr.—" Percy started, but Annabeth stepped on his foot.

"He's a...trainer, I guess you could say." She finished. "You'll understand when you meet him."

I let the others lead me down another hallway. "Why do you keep—"

"Annabeth?" It was Mr. Brunner. But it smelled like the inside of a barn. Did he have some kind of goat in there? "Have you returned already? We don't have training for at least an hour."

And then he came into view. Instead of being in his motorized wheelchair, and using the stick to control where he went, he was on some kind of white horse. Wait, no. He was the horse. From the waist down, at least. Above his waist he was still the Greek teacher in a tweed jacket with thin in hair and a brown beard. I could feel the eyes bulge out of my head and suddenly felt like puking all over the floor. Mr. Brunner seemed to notice me fore the first=st time, and he swore loudly.

"Oh dear," He said.

 **x x x**

"Okay," I said, sitting on some kid's desk and swinging my legs to distract myself from the fact that my Greek teacher was a horse, and I had just been attacked by a giant hound from the seventh layer of my own personal hell. "Somebody please explain to me what is happening before I ship myself to the nearest mental facility."

"Like we said before," Annabeth said. "You're not crazy."

"You just don't quite understand what's going on," Liam said.

"Then explain it to me!"

"We will," Mr. Horseman said. "Or rather, I suppose I will have to."

I pulled my legs up to my chest and tried to listen patiently. "Mr. Brunner—"

"Not Mr. Brunner," Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."

"O...kay?"

"How much do you know about Greek mythology, Alex?" Mr. Brun - I mean, Chiron asked.

"Only what you taught me," I said. "So, not much." His class mainly focused on learning Greek, not as much on mythology. Which was odd, especially considering that he was half horse, like those Centaurs from Greek mythology. I looked around the rooms at the others, and nearly pinched myself when I saw Grover munching on an aluminum can like it was candy. "Um, what?" Was my intelligent response to seeing such a thing.

Thalia sighed. "Grover, I thought you agreed _not_ to eat in front of the newbies?"

He crossed his arms. "I did." He kicked off his shoes and waved his...er...hooves? at me. I nearly fainted. "Hello. I'm Grover the Goat Boy." He spoke in a falsetto, which I assumed was a bad imitation of Thalia's voice.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Not freaking out. I am not freaking out." I opened my eyes, slowly. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Yes." Liam said, at the same time as Percy, who said, "A lot."

Chiron looked at both of them and then back at me. "As these two have already said, yes. You know that your friend Grover is a satyr. I am a centaur. You know that you have killed a cyclops and aided in the defeation of a hellhound. What you do not know is that there are many great forces in your life. Gods - the forces you call the Greek Gods - are very much alive."

Okay, now that I was not expecting.I was half expecting someone to yell, "Psych!" but all I got was the sound of Grover munching on a can. The others in the room didn't even seem fazed. Of course they didn't, they probably have heard all this before.

"So let me get this straight," I said, trying to keep my voice from quavering. "You are telling me that the myths — the things people believed in before science — are real, and they're the reason I got an F on my Geometry Quiz?"

Thunder boomed overhead, even though the weather was nice for once. "Alex," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time? No matter if people believed in you or not?"

It sounded like a pretty good deal to me. Never dying, never worrying about hunger or where you're going to get your next meal from. Never having to go to school, most importantly. I looked around at the others in the room. They had obviously all received this same talk before, and they all looked bored, especially Percy.

"I suppose that has its ups and downs," I said cautiously. "But, I thought that Mount Olympus is in ruins. Wouldn't they have died, or something?"

"Died? No. The gods move with the heart of the west. First it was Greece, then Germany, England, and now they are here in America. Have you not noticed the architecture? People do not forget the gods, whether they know it or not. Look at the symbol of your country, the symbol of Zeus. Look at the greek designs of your capitol buildings in Washington. Like it or not, America is now home to the gods. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."

I was perturbed by the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's "we," as if we were all some sort of boy band or club, or group. I dearly hoped that I wouldn't be given some type of participation award. _Hey, welcome to the mentally insane club!_

"What's going on?" I asked. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? What do you know about your parents?"

I frowned and looked at the floor. "My father is dead and I never knew my mother."

"Ah," Chiron said cautiously as if he were afraid I'd explode. "I apologize."

"Yeah."

"The reason I'm asking...lets start simple. This school is protected by magical barriers that keep the monsters from entering and slaughtering the half-bloods in the school."

"So monsters can't get in here?" I asked dumbly. All I was capable of doing at this point was repeating.

Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally summoned by somebody on the inside."

"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"

"Practice fights. Practical jokes."

"Practical jokes? You're kidding, right?"

"If they're a half-blood, they can handle it."

There was that word again. Half-blood. I remember the cyclops calling me that, and I think Annabeth did. Now Chiron has. What did it mean?

"You keep saying that," I said. "Half-blood. What is that? What does it mean?"

"It means not human," Thalia said bluntly.

"Well, to be fair, half-human." Liam corrected.

"Half human and half what?" I demanded. Why couldn't anybody give me a straight answer?

The others looked at Chiron, as if afraid to tell me.

"God. Half god." Chiron said finally.

I swore loudly.

"Think about it, Alex!" Liam said, an attempt to calm me down. "It could be either one of your parents. Both of those are common stories when it comes to your Olympian parent. Your father could be alive, or your mother may have left because she had to!" I wasn't sure who he was trying to convince, me or himself. It sounded like something he'd repeated in his head numerous times.

"This is crazy." But it wasn't. If there's anything I know about Greek mythology, it's that the gods ran around and got a lot of kids with tons of humans.

"Yes." Beckendorf said. "But it's true."

I rubbed my forehead to fend off the impending headache. This was too much.

"I know it is a lot of information to process." Chiron said.

"No, no, it's fine!" I yelled. "You're telling me that the gods are real, and one of my parents is one of them! I'm doing _just_ fine!"

"This is why we don't tell them right away," Beckendorf whispered to Percy.

I sighed, and the anger drained out of me. "Sorry."

"Your apology is not needed, child," Chiron said. "Now, let's get training started."

 **x x x**

"I still don't understand why I have to do this," I panted the next day.

"So that you don't get eaten!" Liam yelled, pulling ahead of me in the footrace.

We were in the gym at Goode High on a Saturday for no other purpose than to "get me into shape," as Chiron put it. Somehow he had managed to set up a giant training course for me that spanned the entire gym, with a climbing wall, archery range, miniature arena (apparently for sword practice), a rope to climb, and several other things that looked like they could be the end of my lazy weekends. Don't ask me how they managed to get that all in here with nobody noticing.

I wasn't the only one who was in training. Liam was here too, and he had admitted shyly to me that he was still new at this. He had only been found a month before I arrived at the school. Chiron had explained that the school acted as a kind of base for the demigods as they trained and killed monsters. Occasionally they would go on some type of quest, but that was rare.

Liam and I were locked in a footrace, and so far he was winning by a large amount. I didn't realize just how out of shape I was until he beat me to the finish line.

"That...is not...fun." I gasped.

"Oh, come on." Liam said. "You just gotta get used to it." He flashed me a smile and I stuck my tongue out at him childishly as I grabbed my water bottle.

"Where'd Chiron go?" I asked, after taking several large gulps of water from the bottle.

"I think he's IMing Mr. D."

I stared at him and stuck a finger out to point it at myself. "Newbie."

"Right, sorry. I keep forgetting. Mr. D is the...er...supervisor, I guess you could say, for this place. Chiron has to tell him whenever he finds a new half-blood so that Mr. D can tell the gods, and the parent can come forward. Sometimes — actually, most times — it takes a while for the parent to claim you as their own."

"Great. Do you guys all know who your parent is?"

"Most of us, yeah. There's more than just the people at our lunch table, you know. Percy is Poseidon's kid, Annabeth is Athena's, Beckendorf is Hephaestus's, and Thalia and I are both Zeus's children, though we have different mothers. Then Clarisse and her friends are all Ares's kids, Silena Beuregard — you haven't met her yet — and Drew are both Aphrodite's."

"That's a lot of kids. Is everyone else mortal?"

"Yeah. The Mist is pretty heavy for them here, so that they don't find out the truth."

"What's the Mist?" I asked. "Free showers?"

Liam snorted. "No. It's what keeps all the mortals from seeing the monsters and stuff. The Mist makes them think that a hellhound is a rottweiler, and makes all the other...uh, humanoid ones look normal. It gets thicker when there are a lot of us in one place."

"Neat. I gotta get home, it's already 5, and Lawrence will be wondering where I am. I told him this was Debate Club."

"That's an interesting excuse. I told my mom that this was track practice."

I shrugged. "He knows I'm not very athletic."

Liam gaped at me. "Are you kidding me? Red, you're way more athletic than you think. You almost had me in that foot race, you climbed the rope and the rock wall without difficulty, and with a bit more training you'll be a great fighter."

"Thanks, Liam." I said, grabbing my gym bag off the floor and not believing him. "I'll see you Monday."

"See ya. And Alex?"

I turned. "Yeah."

"Don't get killed."

 **Please Review! I might also be slower on updating because of exams and state testing. Have a good week.**


	9. MY WATCH MELTS

**Okay, that took way longer to update than I expected. I finished my exams last week, but then immediately got sick. Twice. Plus I've had concerts all weekend. So...sorry for not updating sooner. Oh, and forgive the typos.**

 **Disclaimer: I'm not creative enough to own the Percy Jackson series.**

The next week was interesting, to say the least. Those moments where the others were hiding something from me — they disappeared. My Thursday tutoring lessons with Annabeth now included Greek Mythology. I was more cautious when I wasn't at school. I wondered if the gym teacher was in on some of this, or if Chiron had told him that I needed to get in shape, because he pushed me harder than before. Sometimes I think he just didn't like me, because he made me run laps around the gym if I so much as looked at him wrong.

On Wednesday I was meeting Lawrence at Starbucks when I saw this snake woman with two snake trunks instead of legs wandering about, and I had to hide behind a bush until she passed by. Luckily my guardian didn't ask why I had a twig in my hair.

Chiron, disguised as Mr. Brunner, forced me to work harder in his class, and surprisingly I did improve. He also told me that I should try to find a better weapon than the one lone hunting knife that I possessed to defend myself. He said he would look into it. I wasn't too worried.

But other than that, I was doing pretty well overall. I had mostly B's in all my classes, and an A in gym. The only bad grade I had was a D in Geometry. But we would be getting a new teacher soon (the last one had to retire), so I had high hopes.

On Friday when I walked into school, I spotted Liam crouching on a park bench typing frantically on a nice-looking computer. His face was beaded with sweat and he looked on the verge of a panic attack. He had his square glasses sitting next to him and he rubbed the bridge of his nose nervously. A part of me wondered why I kept running into him.

I frowned to myself as I walked closer. I had seen Liam this worried before, not even when he was fighting the hellhound. "You okay?"

For a moment, I thought he hadn't heard me, and I opened my mouth to ask again, but then he placed his glasses back on his face and looked up at me with a look that screamed tiredness. "To be honest? No."

I sat next to him on the bench and peered at the computer screen. "You're still writing that argumentative essay? Liam, that's due today!"

"I know that!" He snapped. "I barely have half of it written!"

"Hey, calm down. How many hours of sleep have you gotten?"

Liam sighed. "Four. And I can't bring it to homeroom because Mr. Brunner doesn't let us work on homework in his class."

And we'd had this assignment for a week. I sighed. "Need any help?"

"Normally I would say yes, but since it's due today and I have no chance of getting it done in my classes, I don't see how you could help."

"Keep in mind," I said, "Percy's stepdad is our English teacher."

His eyes lit up.

 **x x x**

" _What!_ " Percy nearly screeched. "I can't do that!"

"Percy, he's your stepfather," Liam pleaded. "And my GPA will die if I don't get this done."

We were in our 3rd period Geometry class waiting for the new teacher to get here. Liam and I both sat near Percy, so we were begging him to help. But we needed to do it quick before the teacher got here and found us out of our seats.

"And he'll be whining about it for forever," I added. Liam elbowed me in the side. I elbowed him back.

"Please." Liam said.

Percy looked between us quickly and then sighed loudly, as if a sign of defeat. "Fine! But this is one time only!"

"Yes!" Liam said, pumping his fist once and then holding a hand out for me to high-five. I observed it for a moment before gingerly tapping it with one finger. He observed me with a look of mock hurt. I rolled my eyes before walking back to my seat and sitting right as the new teacher arrived.

She was about my height (so about 5"6) with long brown hair and wearing a nice blouse. She looked slightly nervous, and I guessed she was maybe a year or two younger than Lawrence. When she walked in, everyone immediately scurried back to their seats as if they had never left them. The new teacher didn't seem to mind though, because she was busy setting all her things on her desk. As much as I would like to say that the others in the classroom were respectful, but they were quite the opposite. Two kids were making out in the back, several others were having a spitball war, and everyone else was yelling across the room like they were hard of hearing.

Once the woman had all her things together, she took one look at all the chaos, straightened, and yelled, "EXCUSE ME!"

The effect was instantaneous. Everyone immediately quieted, stopped what they were doing, and turned to stare at her. I was shocked. I had never seen a teacher act like that.

"Thank you," the new teacher said. "My name is Ms. Rudenheifer, and —"

"The lady who keeps getting her cat stuck in a tree?" Someone said.

Ms. Rudenheifer seemed to actually be embarrassed. "Er, no. That's my sister, unfortunately. Had the misfortune of marrying a man with the same last name."

The other kids in the classroom laughed while I doodled on a piece of paper.

"Anyways," Ms. Rudenheifer said. "Since today is your first day with me as your teacher, we will not be doing anything."

The students cheered. I may or may not have as well.

"But!" She held up a finger. "We will be on Monday."

"Awww."

 **x x x**

"I got him to do it," Percy said, arriving to lunch late.

"Whrrt?" Liam spat out his milk all over Thalia.

She gagged and wiped milk out of her hair with a napkin. "Ew."

"Sorry," Liam said.

"You got him to extend the deadline?" I asked.

Percy nodded. "He said he'd extend it over the weekend."

"Yes!" Liam pumped his fist and ate applesauce. "I can now survive the weekend."

I rolled my eyes and stabbed my salad with my right hand. Beckendorf's eyes immediately bulged out of his head, and I followed his gaze to the silver watch on my wrist. I didn't even know why I had put it on when I had some up in the morning. It had just been sitting on my dresser, nearly forgotten, and I had felt bad about it, and I guess it just happened.

"What?" I asked.

Beckendorf pulled his fork out of his mouth, with the food still attached, and pointed towards my watch with it. "Can I see that?"

"Why?" Annabeth asked. Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing to watch.

"Uh, sure." I said, unstrapping it from around my wrist and tossing it to him. "It's broken, though."

"I know," Beckendorf said. He placed his fork back on the table and pulled out a bunch of tools —screwdrivers, mostly — and pried the back of the watch off. I observed with the others as he fiddled with the watch for a few moments. Suddenly the watch beeped frantically and startled me so bad that my knees slammed into the table as I jumped in my seat.

Beckendorf tossed the watch back to me and I caught it clumsily. When I turned it over, the watch face clearly had the time written in gold. It was digital, apparently.

"You fixed it!" I exclaimed.

Beckendorf shrugged. "Yeah."

"Beckendorf can fix anything," Grover said, munching on an enchilada. "Except the lunch ladies' taste in enchilada ingredients."

"I don't think anyone can do that," Percy said.

"True," Thalia agreed.

But I was too busy admiring the only gift I had ever received from my mother. It seemed almost...alive. It vibrated with energy. But that was insane. Then again, so was my life. I strapped it on and finished lunch.

Little did I know, it was much more than just a watch.

 **x x x**

When I arrived at school the next day, Liam was once again typing furiously on his computer, but he seemed significantly less stressed. He had his bronze sword laid out next to him on the bench, and looked pretty deep in concentration.

Trying not to disturb him, I placed my gym bag on a different bench and looked around the gym for Chiron. The centaur was over by the miniature archery range, practicing with a bow. Mesmerized, I walked towards him and watched as each arrow slammed into the center target with precise accuracy. He must have been doing that for a long time. Annabeth had told me how old Chiron was, and at first it was hard to wrap my head around, but seeing him shoot arrows like that, I found it a bit easier to believe.

I must have made some type of noise that alerted him to my presence, because Chiron turned and looked at me with surprise on his features.

"Alex! I didn't see you there. You're early."

I shrugged. "By about ten minutes."

Chiron slung his bow across his back and threw a pebble at the back of Liam's head to get his attention.

Liam jumped. "Whaa?" He looked over towards Chiron and I. "When did she get here?"

I rolled my eyes and rolled up my sleeves. "So what's on the agenda today, boss?"

Chiron gestured towards the rack of swords and bows. "Weapons practice."

I blanched. "I'm gonna end up accidentally impaling myself with one of those swords and we all know it."

"Oh, come on." Liam said, shutting his laptop and picking up his sword. "I only did that on my second day. You'll be fine."

Chiron sighed exasperatedly. "How about we leave the reassuring to me, William?"

I snorted. "Your name is William?"

Liam groaned. "Yes. My mom's Scottish."

I laughed. "I'm never letting you live this down."

"Let's just get started before I stab myself again."

Chiron and Liam guided me through the basics of sword fighting, which I decided I was no good at, considering that I sliced an inch of hair off of Chiron's tail. He told me unhappily to put the sword back, and that he'd teach me how to shoot with a bow.

We started with basic maintenance of the bow and arrows, like how to clean the arrows, how to service the bow, etcetera. The weird thing was, I actually enjoyed it. It was relaxing, for some odd reason.

Next, Chiron slapped these things called "vambraces" onto my arm. Said they were to keep the bow string from hitting my arm and peeling the skin off. Which was totally a comforting thought. Not.

Finally, Chiron was in the middle of looking at the rack of bows to find one for me, but I guess the overhead gym lights must have reflected off my watch, and it somehow must have caught him in the face, so he spun around as fast as he could on his four hooves.

"What's that?" He asked me, pointing an arrow towards said watch.

"This?" I asked, confused. "It's just a watch."

"Where did you get it?"

I must have looked at him like he was crazy, but I answered honestly. "I think my mother gave it to me."

Chiron approached me and grabbed my wrist, analyzing the timekeeper as if it were an alien device.

"Press this button," Chiron said. He pointed towards a black button on the side. I thought that was off, because I could have sworn that all of the buttons were silver. Apparently, the paint had worn off on this one.

"Why?"

"Just do it," Liam chimed in, leaning forward on the bench to watch closely.

"Okay, but I don't see how —"

As I spoke, I must have pressed the button, because as soon as I did, it began to...change.

The watch turned into liquid. Silver, metallic liquid that ran from my wrist and into my hand. It elongated and formed a handle, and then not a handle, but a beautiful longbow, crafted from silver and gold. Similar liquid ran up my back and formed a quiver with arrows made of bronze.

My jaw dropped.

Chiron didn't seem fazed. "As I thought," he said. "I've seen this watch before, on a young woman...many, many years ago."

Liam looked like he was about to fall off the bench. "What. The heck."

But I think I was the most surprised of all. I had no words, so I just spoke gibberish. "Wha...It...greh...arrwe...What?"

"Your watch turns into a bow," Chiron said seriously. "Did you hit you head on the way in?"

After I came to terms with my watch (and by "came to terms" I mean "stopped hyperventilating), Chiron showed me the proper stance, how to hold the bow, how to aim with my dominant eye, and a whole bunch of other technical things. I found that I had no trouble understanding and following his instructions.

Finally, he let me shoot, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor as targets. I'll admit, I was nervous. Grover told me Percy once put an arrow in Chiron's tail. What if I did one worse, and shot someone? Just because my watch was a bow didn't mean I was a good shot.

"Go ahead," Chiron said. "Don't worry, it will be fine."

"If you say so," I muttered. I looked at the straw dummy and imagined it was Clarisse, aiming for the head. This would probably go way wild, but what the heck. Let's do it.

I double-checked all the technical things that Chiron had taught me in the past half-hour, calmed my nerves, and released the arrow.

Thwap!

I was watching my arrow. I saw it happen, as if in slow motion. The arrow flew right where I had aimed it; right into the eye socket of my dummy in Greek armor. I saw the straw fly out from the back and I saw the head flop backwards violently.

My jaw fell open. Did I do that? Me?

I lowered the bow and looked sheepishly at Chiron. "Uh, sorry about your dummy."

"Sorry?" His bearded face broke into a grin. "Why are you sorry? Show me that again!"

Following instructions, I immediately raised the bow and fired at the same spot on the dummy next to mine. The same result.

After a long pause, Liam said, "Beginner's luck?"

Chiron wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Alex could do after some real practice..."

I rubbed my hands together sorely. That sword practice had bruised my hands pretty well.

"Ok. I am officially crazy. But let's do that again."

 **So this chapter went well, I guess. Took me a while to write though, because I was SUPER unmotivated. But here it is now, so yeah. Please review, because I'm lonely. *collapses from exhaustion***


	10. FORBIDDEN WHAT-NOW?

**I get to go to D.C in a week! Yay! Meaning, I may not be able to update until the week after. But I'll try. Also, thanks to a guest reviewer for pointing out a flaw in Chiron's character. Hopefully now it is fixed.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series.**

I'm thousands of feet underwater, sinking by the minute. I , thfeel like I should be drowning, but I'm not. I can breath just fine, despite the fact that I'm well below the surface. Not to mention the fact that the pressure should be crushing. As I sink fast, I can see dark creatures swimming around me. Some of them looked distinctly humanoid, but I couldn't be sure. And when I finally reached the bottom, I wasn't on the ocean floor. I was in a giant city of some sort, surrounded by people with gills and red eyes swimming through the water. I seemed to move inside the city, though I stayed still in a standing position. The inside of the city was even more impressive than the outside; it had swirling columns and lavish paintings, and surprisingly there was breathable air inside. I continued moving until I reached what looked like a tomb, carved from black granite with 12 symbols on it, though I could only make out some: a lightning bolt, a moon, a trident, a hammer, and an owl. Though it looked closed off, the heavy door slid out of the way for me as I

" _The Forbidden Child approaches!"_

I spun around, searching for the voice, and find one of those fish people running into the tomb, yelling at the top of their lungs.

" _My queen! Your nemesis is realizing!_ "

Try as I might, I couldn't avoid following the strange fish-person into the tomb, lit only by torches for the first few feet. After that, it widened out into a massive cavern, with several tunnels leading off into different colored doorways. A woman sat in the very center of it all, with sparkling silver hair and a large spear laid out next to her.

The fish-man continued. " _When she discovers her true identity she will come here! My queen, you must—_ "

"Let her come," the woman interrupted. "Try as she might, she will never be ready for what lays ahead. The Forbidden Child will perish with the rest. Send the snakes after her."

I woke with a start, sweat pouring down my forehead.

 _It was just a dream,_ I told myself.

...Was it?

I rolled out of my bed clumsily, suddenly freezing, though from the dream or the weather outside I couldn't tell. I pulled a black jacket with a white zipper and zipcords over my shoulders. I had become quite fond of it over the weeks. Lawrence was asleep, so I walked silently downstairs and into the kitchen for some apple cider. When I looked out the window, I could see a fresh blanket of snow covering the grass. I sighed and grabbed the gallon of apple cider from out of the fridge. I had been getting next to no sleep these past few weeks. Chiron had told me that sometimes demigods got bizarre dreams. I guess I was no exception.

I poured myself a cup of cider and placed it in the microwave. It was almost December now; I should think about going Christmas shopping. The school's holiday party was in three weeks, and then winter break. How long ago did I join Goode? A month? No, two. Two months at Goode, and I was already feeling sentimental.

But my thoughts soon turned back to the dream. It was so real, so vivid! Lately all my dreams have been like that. I wondered briefly if I should tell Chiron, but decided against it for the time being. The last thing I needed was people thinking I'm crazy.

But then again, I wasn't so sure that I was sane, either.

 **x x x**

"The myth of Atlanis has been told throughout history in all cultures. Many people have searched in vain for it, and many of them did not return, due to shipwrecks, hostile foreigners, mutinies, etcetera." Chiron rolled up to some kids desk in the front and pointed to a spot in the textbook. "Plato himself, some believe, thought that the place was real, though many scholars today say that he used it as an example of mankind's arrogance.

"Plato wrote that the famous Athenian lawgiver Solon had heard the story of Atlantis when he visited Egypt. According to his writing, in the very distant past, a great island as large as North Africa and the Near East combined existed in the Atlantic Ocean. The island belonged to Poseidon, who fell in love with a young woman of the island named Cleito and married her." I glanced at Percy. He seemed uncomfortable. "Poseidon built a city on the island, and on a mountain in the center of the city, he built a palace for Cleito. The couple had ten children, and in time Poseidon divided the island among them, giving each a section to rule.

"Atlantis was a paradise: no one had to work hard, every type of wonderful food grew there, and animals were plentiful. Poseidon had created a stream of hot water and a stream of cold water for the island. It had a glorious culture with wonderful palaces and temples. The kings were rich in gold, silver, and plenty of other precious metals. The people of Atlantis lived in a golden age of harmony and abundance."

"Sounds like New Jersey!" Somebody said. The class laughed.

"Quiet down, unless you want a pop quiz over the myth of Atlantis?" The class instantly quieted, and Chiron smiled. "Well then. Let me continue. Then things began to change. The gods started to intermarry with humans. The Atlanteans became greedy for more than they had. They decided to conquer the lands around the Mediterranean. Angered by the Atlanteans' behavior, Zeus sent an earthquake, one so large that it made Atlantis sink into the sea in the course of one day and one night."

Liam also looked uncomfortable.

"But sir," I said. "Surely not all of the Atlanteans were bad."

Chiron seemed to consider that for a moment. "No, perhaps not. But in the myths, the gods only see the majority."

His tone told what he really wanted to say: Mess up, and the gods will be unforgiving.

The bell rang, and everyone grabbed their bags right away.

"Ah! Don't forget to study! Pop quiz tomorrow!"

I was the last one out of the classroom. I had a question that needed answering.

"Alex, don't you have class?" Chiron asked me, shifting in his chair uncomfortably.

"Yeah. But I have a question. It's not school related, if you know what I mean."

"Oh. Well, go ahead. I'll answer to the best of my abilities, though I don't know everything."

I sat on a desk. "Do you know what Forbidden Child means?"

Instantly the atmosphere was drained from the room. Chiron's face drained of all color and his pallor made him look like a ghost.

"Where did you hear that?" He snapped.

My eyes widened. "I...I had a dream."

I thought that this would help calm him down, but instead his eyes bulged out of his head and he rolled his wheelchair over to the classroom door and slammed it shut firmly. "Tell me about the dream."

And so I told him. I didn't omit a single detail, because I knew it was important, no matter how crazy I sounded. When I was finished, Chiron looked no less troubled.

"I need to call Olympus," he said.

And with that, he rolled right out of the classroom, leaving both me and his next class wondering what was going on.

 **x x x**

My walk after school was not fun.

Here's what happened:

I walked out of the school with my bag slung on my shoulder and with my hand fiddling with my watch uncomfortably. I had been having a bad feeling all day; the familiar feeling in my gut, the warning sign of something bad about to happen. I didn't see anybody following me, and I didn't see anything threatening so far, but that didn't ease my nerves. I adjusted the strap on my messenger bag uncomfortably and started down the street towards my house, watching the trees sway in the breeze as I went.

I briefly wondered if signing up for that writing competition was a good idea. Mr. Blofis had announced to the class that there was a writing competition, and the grand prize for first place was a chance to get a story published, along with $1000. Liam entered, and then pestered me until I entered. At the time, I didn't really see the harm. But now I realized that I actually had to write something for it. And I'd need someone to correct my typos, due to dyslexia.

I sighed aloud. For a moment, I thought that someone else must have sighed right after me, because there was this weird sound behind me. Then I realized it didn't sound like sighing. More like...slithering.

I spin around, transforming my watch into a bow without even realizing it, and aimed behind me. But there was nothing there. But I didn't put my bow down, because my gut feeling hadn't gone away. I had learned to trust it over the weeks.

Slowly, I turned in an exact circle, examining my surroundings. I couldn't see anything. Nothing! Not even a whisper of another presence.

The pressure in my gut receded, and I put my bow down and turned back the way I was going. I had just turned my bow back into a watch when my gut exploded in warning and something tackled me from behind.

I slammed against the concrete ground hard, and pain exploded in my ribs and chest. I could feel blood soaking into my shirt. I must have cut myself. I heard frantic hissing on top and surrounding me, and barely managed to grab my hunting knife off my belt.

"Get. Off!" I yelled, driving the knife backwards, into what I assumed was the creature's gut. They exploded with a hiss and dust rained down around me, clouding my vision for a moment.

I scrambled to my feet, blinking monster dust out of my eyes, and the only thing that I could see was four large feminine figures gathered around me in a menacing circle. On a whim, I threw my hunting knife at what I thought was the head of one of the figures. Surprisingly, I didn't miss, and they collapsed into dust.

I wiped my eyes quickly and took in the three remaining creatures.

They were full of green, large scales that covered them from head to toe. And instead of legs, they had two twin snake trunks. That must have been the slithering sound I heard. Annabeth had shown me pictures of these things in our tutoring sessions. They were called Dracanae. They hissed at me.

"What are you?" I asked, my bow elongating from a watch into a killing machine. "And what do you want with me?"

It was a long shot and I knew it. I wasn't actually expecting them to answer.

"We come for the nemesisssss."

The speaker was most likely the leader of the pack of snake-ladies, because she wore more armor and a crown of sorts.

"Sorry." I said. Within a second, I notched an arrow onto my bow and shot the leader in the face. She collapsed into a large pile of dust, like the others, and the two remaining Dracanae hissed irately. I vaporized them too, but one of them managed to dig a long claw into the flesh right above my eyebrow. It stung like mad, and my chest felt like crap. A quick inspection revealed bruises and cuts all over my ribs and chest.

"Owww." I moaned at the sky.

 **x x x**

"So five Dracanae attacked you," Chiron said. It was the next day, and most of my cuts had healed, save the one in my eyebrow. I had been offered nectar and ambrosia but refused. It was just a cut.

I was in Chiron's classroom along with the others from our lunch table, during study hall.

"Yep." I said.

"Wait, didn't that lady in the dream say to send the snakes after you?" Annabeth said.

I glanced at Chiron. I didn't know he had told her.

"Yes," Chiron said.

The entire room was silent for a full minute as he thought.

Finally, he said, "There was a prophecy, one that I heard a long time ago."

Almost everyone in the room immediately groaned.

"Not another one!" Percy nearly shouted.

"Hush, child." Chiron said, his eyes firmly fixed on me. "The prophecy is very old. I still don't completely understand what it means."

I blinked. "Okaaaay. What do I have to do with some prophecy? And what does it mean?"

Chiron cleared his throat. "Well, it means that there is a lot more to you than first appeared...Forbidden Child."

 **Please review!**


	11. WHEN THE PARTY GOES WRONG

**uuuughhh. I am sooooo sorry I haven't updated for like a month, and I don't have a good excuse. Sorry guys.**

 **I do not own the Percy Jackson series, nor do I own Breaking Benjamin.**

"Who's Selina?" I asked.

"She's one of the other demigods I told you about." Liam said.

"She also throws the best parties since Bruno Mars," Percy said.

"Last time," Grover swallowed an enchilada whole, "Percy jumped from the balcony into her pool."

"And the time before that, Liam made out with one of the girls from Drama Club." Annabeth seemed smug, like she knew something I didn't.

I looked over at Liam and found that his face was almost as red as the ketchup on his burger.

He cleared his throat. "She laced my drink with something."

"Riiight," Thalia said with a wink. "Because Sophomores can totally get their hands on drugs like that."

"You'd be surprised," I said. "I've seen stuff like that. My...old school wasn't very nice."

Some of the others raised eyebrows, but Annabeth pushed forward. "Anyways, she's invited all of us to her party on Friday."

"All of us?" Liam nodded towards me.

"Well, at first she only invited Annabeth and I, and we brought you guys, so I'm sure one more wont hurt," Thalia said.

"What time does it start again?" Percy asked.

"Guh," Thalia rolled her eyes back in her head, like she was searching her memory.

"10." Annabeth said.

"10?" I demanded. "Lawrence doesn't even let me out of the house past nine!"

"Well, I guess you can't go, no harm done." Liam said quickly. He spoke unusually fast. I looked at Thalia questioningly, but the look she gave me said that she didn't know what was wrong with him either.

"Well, I don't know." Annabeth said. "I think it's about time Alex expand her horizons beyond this table."

"What?" I said. "I talk to people other than you guys!"

"Yeah? Like who?"

"Like...uh..." The others at the table stared at me while I tried to find someone I actually spoke to.

"Yeah, that's what we thought." Percy said.

"Hey!"

"I think what they're trying to say is that you need to make more friends if you want to survive high school." Ladies and gentlemen, Beckendorf, voice of unnecessary reason.

I groaned. Having no excuse, I crossed my arms and remained silent.

"Besides, maybe you'll meet a man," Thalia said bluntly.

"Thalia!" Annabeth said, elbowing the girl in the side.

"What?"

I groaned and put my head in my hands. "I hate all of you, but fine, I'll go."

"Great!" Grover said. "Now, here are the directions..."

 **x x x**

As it turns out, Selina's house wasn't far from my own. It was just a few blocks away, and the others said they would wait outside for me.

The only problem? Lawrence had to work at home, saying that he would have to stay up late into the night filing reports. And that meant that I couldn't go out the front door, lest I be discovered.

My solution was to tie together my bedsheets and a couple sweatshirts to form a makeshift rope. Annabeth and Thalia had both told me to wear something nice, but I didn't have anything of the sort, so I settled on my black hoodie, a gray t-shirt, and black jeans. I waited until exactly 9:50 to pull my hood over my head and climb out my window.

Now, this may seem odd, since I lived in a tree for a decent portion of my life, but I'm not very fond of heights. Once, when I was in foster care, one of the other kids pushed me into the railing on a balcony, during one of our trips to the museum, and I inevitably tumbled over the edge. I landed in a bush, fortunately, but I ended up sore for weeks and with a few mental scars.

Luckily, I had some climbing experience, so lowering myself out of my window and onto my rope wasn't terribly difficult, and the friction from my shoes rubbing against the sandy brick of the house helped me descend downwards.

There was a heart-stopping moment when, stretching my right foot to a new knot on the rope, my left shoe slipped on the weather-rounded edge of the stone blocks, and I was left clinging by my hands alone as I desperately scrabbled for a foothold. Then I recovered and kept moving.

When I dropped to the ground, I had to ask myself why I was sneaking out to go to some party that I didn't even want to go to. I didn't know the answer, but I still walked down the street towards said party.

As promised, Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, Grover, Liam and Beckendorf were all waiting outside a large house with pulsating lights flashing from the windows. Loud music made the ground underneath my feet shake.

"Hey guys." I said, sticking my hands in my pockets nervously.

"There you are!" Thalia said, sipping out of a red solo cup. When I quirked an eyebrow at her, she said, "Punch."

"Ah."

"Okay, everyone ready to go in?" Annabeth asked. She was dressed in a blue sundress, with sandals on her feet. When I looked at Percy, it looked like his eyes were about to fall out of his head.

I shrugged.

"Alex, stop being so enthusiastic, it's embarrassing," Liam said, arms crossed.

I grinned just to irk him. He rolled his eyes.

"Guys, come on," Beckendorf said, jerking his head towards the others, who were already inside the house. I followed halfheartedly, scuffing my shoes on the pavement as I stepped up the concrete stairs and into the house.

The inside was deafening, with Beyoncé blasting through the speakers and into a large crowd of people dancing in the living room. Over in the corner, leaning against a cream colored wall was a punch fountain, with a mountain of plastic cups sitting nearby. In the kitchen, a group of people chatted idly, Clarisse being among them with her minions. She shot me a glare, one that I returned happily. There was a flight of stairs leading to the second floor, where some people talked, others made out, and others danced.

"Wow," Percy said. "She's losing her touch."

"C'mon, we'll introduce you to Silena," Thalia said, taking my arm and Beckendorf's and dragging the both of us towards a girl with blue eyes and black hair who was dancing and talking to a group of girls simultaneously.

"Hey Silena!" Thalia said, Beckendorf and I in tow. Beckendorf looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

The girl turned around. "Hey, Thalia. And Charlie." I held back a laugh. Charlie was Beckendorf's real name? No, he didn't seem like a Charlie. Maybe more of a Charles. "And..." Silena looked at me with a questioning glance.

"Alex," Thalia supplied. "She new, but she's like us."

"Ooo, ok." Silena spoke to me directly in a lowered voice. "Who's your parent?"

I scratched my ear. "I...uh, don't know."

"Ah, that sucks. That's okay, though, a lot of people don't know still."

I shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure it all out, to be honest."

"Ah, that's — Riley, no! Put that vase down!" Silena rushed off to stop someone chucking a vase at another kid's head.

"Some party," I said.

I glanced over to my left, and Thalia was talking to some other people in gothic clothes. Apparently, she found her clan. Beckendorf actually looked more relaxed now that Silena was gone.

"Spill," I said.

He jumped about two feet in the air and looked at me as of realizing for the first time that I was there. "What?"

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing! N-nothing's wrong with me."

And with that, Beckendorf swam into the crowd, and I was alone.

 **x x x**

After an hour walking around the house, pushing past crowds of people I didn't know and avoiding a murderous Clarisse, I ended up on the balcony overlooking Selina's pool. A quick check of my watch told me that it was 11:05. Luckily for me, no one else was out there with me, except for the people down in the pool a story below.

I'd had enough of people for the night.

First, someone had spilled their punch all over my pants and my shoes, and then stared at me blankly as if they hadn't realized what they had done. Then, someone had bumped right into me and knocked me into the ground. My head had been dangerously close to a pile of vomit. Oh, and Clarisse decided to harass me about my friend choices as I tried to find the ones she was teasing me for. No such luck, but I did manage to lose the bully to the crowd, and finally ended up here.

But I didn't mind. It was dark out, so I had a clear view of the sky. It was cloudy, so I couldn't see the moon, but that was ok. It just meant that I was harder to see.

I sighed and leaned my forearms on the balcony railing. At that moment, I decided to look down at the pool, and nearly made myself fall.

"Heights," I muttered. "Heights are not good." I stepped back from the balcony and wrung my hands.

"What're you doing up here all by yourself?" Someone said. I turned. There stood Liam, leaning against the screen door frame and holding a cup in his hands. He was clad in a gray cotton jacket with the front unzipped, revealing a Breaking Benjamin t-shirt with dark blue jeans. He was smirking.

I sighed. "Ever wonder why we keep running into each other?"

"Hmm, a little, yeah." Liam took a cautious sniff of the punch and then gagged. "Ugh, I swear, if one more person spikes my drink—" He dumped the contents over the side and onto another boy's head.

"Hey!" It was Grover.

"Oh! Sorry, dude!" Liam yelled back down.

I chuckled. "Smooth, Mr. William."

He shrugged and joined me at the balcony's railing. "Seriously though, why're you out here?"

I shrugged for what seemed the millionth time that night. "I've had enough of those people you call partygoers. Ugh, I don't even know why I came to this stupid party."

"Me neither," Liam said, leaning his back against the railing and looking at me.

"What?" I asked. "Aren't you the one who said encouraged me to go?"

"Actually, I was the one person who thought you shouldn't go. I knew you wouldn't like it, and I was right."

"Oh, and you knew this how?"

"You're like me."

I blinked. "No, I'm not."

"Mm, a lot more than you'd think." Liam pointed at me. "I know the real reason you came to this party."

"And what's that?"

Liam sighed. "You hate being alone. You come to a party full of people, thinking that you'll be surrounded by people, and you won't be completely by yourself, but—"

"It doesn't help." I finished, staring at a pine tree in the distance. "You're still alone, just in a large crowd of people."

Liam stared at me. "On the nose."

"Yeah, well, I've been alone most of my life and have had a lot of time to think about it." I rubbed my right palm with my left them with fingers entwined.

There was silence between us as we listened to the party sounds below. Whoever the DJ was, they were playing 21 guns by Green Day. I decided I liked the song.

"What's Breaking Benjamin?" I asked suddenly.

Liam glanced at me. "You mean you've never heard of them?"

I shook my head.

"Okay, that's it." Liam pulled out an MP3 player out of his pocket and handed me a pair of scrunched up headphones. I raised an eyebrow but still placed the buds in my ear. With a flourish, he pressed a button and music started flooding into my ears. There was a heavy guitar, and then the melody started.

 _Dead stars shine_

 _Light up the sky_

 _I'm all out of breath_

 _My walls are closing in_

"It's good," I told Liam.

 _I can feel you falling away_

 _No longer the lost_

 _No longer the same_

 _And I can see you starting to break_

 _I'll keep you alive_

 _If you show me the way_

"You like it, huh?" Liam took one of the headphones and popped it in his ear.

 _Forever and ever_

 _the scars will remain_

 _I'm falling apart_

 _Leave me here forever in the dark_

"How'd you find these guys?" I asked.

Liam paused the music. "They played them on the radio one day when I was thirteen and I was instantly hooked."

"Hm."

"What?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking about how much of a doofus you are."

"What?" He held a hand over his heart in mock hurt. "You wound me." He looked very unwounded.

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks."

He looked sincerely puzzled. "What for?"

I shrugged. "I think I needed a friend."

"Aha! You admitted it!"

"Don't make me take it back."

"Ha, ha, very funny."

Liam bumped his shoulder against mine, jostling me against the railing slightly.

I jumped with a start and stumbled away from the railing, his earbud falling out of me ear. "Gah!"

"Woah!" Liam stepped closer to me, putting himself between me and the railing and putting his hands on my shoulders. "You okay, Alex?"

I exhaled slowly. "Yeah. I think so. I just...I hate heights."

I looked at Liam and was surprised to find concern sparkling in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

He straightened and removed his hands from my shoulders. "Yeah."

He was quite a sight, with one headphone in his ear and the other dangling precariously over his arm. I couldn't help but laugh.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Liam narrowed his eyes at me. "You're laughing at me, aren't you?"

"Yeah, how could you tell?"

"Okay," Liam said. He cracked his knuckles and held up two fists in a comical fight stance. "Let's go."

I rolled my eyes and punched him in the stomach before he could blink.

"You may be good with a sword," I said, "but I'm good at street fighting."

"Touché," he grunted. Then he straightened. Liam paused a moment, cocking his head to the side. "What's that sound?"

"What sound?"

"Just listen."

I strained my ears, but it was hard to hear over the bass of the newest song. But then I heard something. It almost sounded like—

"Hey! Cut the music!" Someone yelled.

As requested, the music came to a sudden stop, causing several complaints, and then shushes. Everyone listened in silence, until the unmistakable sound of police sirens reached our ears.

"It's the police!" Someone yelled.

"Crap," I muttered.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Liam said. I ran with him down the stairs, down to the front door, where I threw open the door.

"Oh," I said. "H-hi, Lawrence."

Because standing right there, was my police officer guardian.

 **Did I get Beckendorf's character right? I feel like he should be the strong but silent type, but I'm not sure. The Breaking Benjamin song (love them) was called Give Me a Sign of you wanna look it up.**

 **Also, did anyone actually look at those pictures up, or am I just putting them up there for nothing?**

 **Please Review!**


	12. I GET PUNISHED WITH A CANINE

"Please tell me there was a logical explanation for why you were at that party." Lawrence said as he drove me home in his police car. The clock read 1:22 in the morning. I could still hear the reverberating in my ears, and it took me a moment to respond.

"I didn't want to be there and I didn't know it would quite like that."

Lawrence looked over at me as he drove. I could see genuine worry in his eyes, but that was vastly outnumbered by anger. "And yet you still snuck out and went to that party without telling me."

I remained silent. I had no excuse. I couldn't help but wonder what kind of punishment he had in store for me. Grounded for a month? No "debate club?" Extra chores? Never leaving the house again? But instead Lawrence's next words surprised me more.

"I get it, I do. I did the same thing to my dad when I was your age. And you know what he did to punish me?" I braced myself. "He got me a dog. And that's what I'm going to do to you."

I blinked, sure my ears were damaged from the volume of the music. "Um...what?"

He nodded, and I could see his resolve hardening. "You heard me. He said I needed to learn responsibility, and the only way to do that was go get me a dog have me raise it all by myself."

The realization hit me like a truck: I would never have free time again.

"Today, at...let's say noon, we're going to the humane society and getting you a dog, kid. Enjoy your freedom while you can."

 **x x x**

After I had slept till eleven, showered and changed, Lawrence dragged me away from the couch (literally), and placed me in the back seat of his police car. You know, the part with all the bars over the windows that separated the passenger from the driver? I guess he thought I was going to try and escape. Which, don't get me wrong, I probably would have had he left me in the front.

"You know, this is overkill." I called to Lawrence.

"Not with you it isn't." He turned a corner. "By the way, who was that guy you with last night? Uh, brown hair, green eyes, square glasses?"

"What? Liam? You think Liam and I—"

"I'm just warning you that some guys can't be trusted."

"Well, yeah, but Liam's really nice and—"

"Ah! That's how it starts!" We stopped at a red light.

"That's how what starts?"

"That's when you fall for a guy and they stab you in the back."

I choked on air. "I'm sorry, what? Liam—I'm not going to—he's so—ugh!"

"Just trust me. Backstabbers have the best disguises."

"Oh, and you know this how?"

Lawrence shrugged and pulled the car forward when the light turned green. "Old girlfriend may have had an effect on me."

"Ah. How far is the humane center from here?"

"Eh, about a mile or two."

I didn't say anything after that. Since I had the whole backseat to myself, I propped my legs up on the other side and sort of used the backseat as a bed. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

I was in the same forest as before in one of my previous dreams, except that the forest wasn't burning. It was still night, but the moon was back to its normal silvery color, not the blood red of the other dream.

" _She needs help._ " The voice was clearly female, one that I recognized, though from where I wasn't sure. " _I'm sending her something that will help her understand. She has to stop Zeus!_ "

The next voice was also female, but I didn't know this one. " _Are you sure that's wise?_ "

" _She needs it._ "

Suddenly, a white timber wolf ran past me, brushing it's fur against my leg, and suddenly it was like I could hear it's thoughts.

" _Need to find the Forbidden Child. Follow the scent_."

" _Alex_."

I looked around the forest, seeing nothing but the rustling of leaves. Thunder struck overhead.

" _My son will not associate with that abomination!_ " A distinctly male voice boomed. " _Send him a message_."

" _Alex_!"

I turned suddenly. There was nothing except for a black and white dog sitting at my feet.

"ALEX!"

"Gah!" I yelled, waking with so much of a start that I slammed my head into the roof of the car. "Oh...ow."

Lawrence was standing in front of me, with the car door to the backseat open wide. He looked very, very worried. "You were mumbling something about a 'Forbidden Child'."

"Huh?" I unbuckled my seat belt. "Uh...that's for my writing project. Are we here?"

Lawrence stared at me for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah."

I cracked my neck sorely and climbed out of the car, stretching my limbs as I went along. Lawrence was already way ahead of me, and I had to run to catch up with him. By the time I did we were already in the lobby.

Some people say that the humane society is cute, with all its kittens and dogs waiting to be picked up, but this place looked downright scary. It may have had something to do with the fact that the building itself was right next to the county prison. The inside of the building smelled like an allergy attack waiting to happen. In fact, I didn't even know whether or not I was allergic to dogs or not. All I knew was that I hated cats.

Lawrence rung the bell on top of the counter impatiently. Almost a full minute later, an elderly woman dressed in 80's attire (complete with a minuscule gray Afro, beads, leg warmers, and a neon top that should not have fit a woman of her age) appeared out of the back room and approached us from behind the counter.

"May I help you?" She croaked.

"Yes," Lawrence said, relieved that someone had finally arrived to help us. "We're looking to buy a dog."

The woman looked totally unsurprised. "This way." She started walking down a hallway to the right and we had no choice but to follow her. As soon as we reached the end of the hallway and she pushed open a metal door, the sound of barking filled my ears along with the musty smell of dogs who hadn't bathed in a long time.

"Pick one," the elderly disco diva said, waiting by the door as Lawrence and I hesitantly stepped into the room. Lawrence went one way, and I went another. I somehow ended up in the "0-2 years old" section of the place. At least, that's what the sign above said. Inside were a whole bunch of dogs in cages, most of whom were yipping and howling like there was no tomorrow. When I entered, their barking only increased, desperate to be taken home. Naturally, being an unruly teenager, I walked over to the dog that was loudest.

The dog was a husky, there was no mistaking that, but there was something distinctly wolffish about it. Instead of rounded ears, it's ears were pointy, and it had a thick coat. The coat in question was black and white, with just a hint of grey. It stared at me with one green eye and one light brown eye, just like my own eyes. There was a name tag attached to the cage that read Cooper.

With a start, I jumped back from the cage, and nearly slammed into the other cages.

That dog looked just like the one from my dream.

" _You gonna stand there and stare at me all day?_ "

I jumped again, and glanced around the room, but there was no one there.

" _Hey! Over here!_ "

I looked over towards the door, but once again no one was there.

" _No, down here._ "

I looked down at the floor.

" _No! To your right!_ "

I did as the voice said, (which some would say is a bad sign) and my eyes landed on the cage with the dog from my dreams in it. The dog (Cooper?) feebly raised a paw at me in a salute.

"The dog? You have got to be kidding me." I slammed my forehead into my palm and sighed.

" _It's not a joke! Listen, ya gotta get me out of here. I haven't bathed in a month and I am covered in fleas. Plus that elderly lady? Scares the crap out a me._ " Cooper touched his paws to the bars of his cage in an attempt to break free.

"Not until you tell me how you can get in here." I pointed at my head. "Oh, and why."

" _Eh, if I must." Cooper rolled over on his back. "Ugh, these fleas are killing me. So, I was scavenging through this nice pile of garbage from the butcher shop, and then suddenly there's this bright flash a light and this woman comes up to me, tells me to find some chick called, 'The Forbidden Child,' and gives me some information to tell ya."_

"How did you know who I am?" I demanded, leaning down to his cage.

" _Lady gave me a scent to follow, led me straight to you. Anyways, she told me to tell you to tell Chiron that ya need to know about the fight with the gods._ " Cooper rolled back over onto his back and panted as he scratched his ear with a paw.

"That's it?" I asked.

" _Well, yeah. I'm assuming this Chiron guy has the details. Anyways, you have to get me out of here. I'm not sure I can take any more of this place! I'm gonna snap!_ " He growled in what he probably thought was a menacing manner. Then he shivered. " _She gave me shots! Shots! It was horrible._ "

"Can dogs have mental breakdowns?" I theorized.

" _You better believe it!_ "

I sighed. "Hold on. I'll be right back."

Holding my head in one hand and bouncing the other in my thigh, I walked over towards the elderly woman, who hadn't moved at all since we left her. Lawrence was standing near her. Most likely annoyed, since he had no dog with him.

"Excuse me," I said. "What can you tell me about Cooper?"

"Oh, the street rat? We found him a few months ago, in Central Park. Barking like mad up this giant pine tree."

My eyes widened. I looked at Lawrence. "We're taking him."

"Now, hold on," Lawrence said. "I haven't even seen this dog yet, and we don't even know if—"

"Oh, he has all his shots," the woman said. "Administered them myself."

Which is probably why he's terrified of you, I thought.

"Alright," Lawrence said. "Let me take a look at this dog and then we'll see."

 **x x x**

"So let me make sure I'm hearing you correctly," Annabeth said. "Your guardian punished you. With a dog?"

I shrugged. "Yeah."

"Ugh, I wish my mom was like that," Percy said.

"What do you mean? Sally is cool, Perce." Thalia said.

"My mom punishes me by making me clean my sister's room." Liam said. He shivered. "Her room will join me in my nightmares."

"But that's not even the weirdest part," I continued.

"Liam cleaning his sister's room?" Grover asked.

"No! The weirdest part was that I could hear his thoughts, almost."

Annabeth dropped her fork. "What?"

"I said I could hear it's thoughts. It said that it had a message for Chiron, but he's not here today."

Everyone at the table was staring at me.

"What?" I said.

"C'mon," Thalia said. "It's time for you to learn how to make an Iris Message."

 **Ok, this is super short, and was written suuuper fast. Thought I should make up for not updating, plus had nothing else to do.**


	13. UNLUCKY

"Remind me again what an Iris Message is?" I asked, as Thalia and Annabeth pulled me into the girl's locker room. "And...why are we in the locker room?"

"We need a rainbow for this to work," Thalia said, turning on a shower and intentionally aiming at the wall, so that a solid mist sprayed over us.

"You need to work on your aim," Annabeth stated, wiping water off her face.

Thalia grinned. "Sorry."

Annabeth pulled out a gold coin — like the ones I found at that thrift shop with the cyclops and currently had stuffed under my bed — and threw it into the mist. "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Chiron on Mount Olympus."

I snorted. I had seen a lot of crazy things, sure, but if they actually thought that was going to wor—

Suddenly, the mist shimmered, the coin disappeared, and a fuzzy image of Chiron reading a book (in Greek) and sitting on a marble bench (or rather, stood over the bench) appeared. I couldn't see much of the area around him.

He continued reading as if he didn't notice us, until Thalia coughed.

"Ah!"

Chiron actually bucked, launching the poor fellow behind him into a cluster of bushes. "What is it?"

I waved. "Heeey, Chiron."

He blanched. "What's wrong? Did William impale himself again?"

Thalia shook her head no. "Unfortunately not. Alex has something important to tell you."

As if on cue, everyone in the room looked at me. "Um, okay?"

And so I launched into a lengthy spiel of my punishment for the party.

When I was done, Chiron stroked his scraggly beard in thought. "It spoke to you, you say?"

"Well, yeah, but not with its mouth or anything. It was like—"

"You could hear it's thoughts." Chiron finished for me.

"Yeah, how did you—"

"Call it a hunch. What did it say?"

I scratched my neck. "Well, he said that this woman came up to him, gave him a message for me, and then gave him something with my scent to help find me. He must have gotten caught by the humane society before he could find me."

Silence.

"What was the message?" Annabeth asked.

"Something about the gods fighting?" Chiron instantly tensed. "Actually, he said that you could help explain more, Chiron."

Chiron did not look happy. "And you're sure that's exactly what he said?"

"Yeah, pretty sure."

Chiron ran a hand over his face. "Very well. Keep in mind, child, that I'm only telling you this because I have to."

"It's true." Thalia said.

I crossed my arms, a signal for him to get on with it. I was sick of people not telling me things, and I had a feeling there was a lot I still didn't know. **(And we're only 13 chapters in!)**

"As you already know, the weather has been particularly strange these past couple of months." Chiron glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "That dog of yours was right when he said there was a fight between the gods brewing. The Olympians have split into two groups: Most on Zeus's side, and the others on Artemis and Athena's. Normally, either of the two reasonable goddesses could calm Zeus down, but since they're on different sides...I fear there may be no way to stop the fighting."

"But what are they fighting about?" I asked.

"All I know is that Zeus is looking to kill a certain demigod, for reasons unknown to me. Athena and Artemis are trying to stop him. But Zeus's work is cut out for him; he's offered that anyone who kills the demigod becomes a god themself." Chiron looked worried.

I blinked. "Wow. Zeus must really want this guy dead. What did he do?"

Chiron hesitated. "I don't know."

 _Lier. He knows full well what they did. Why won't he tell me?_

He's probably worried that I'll go after that demigod.

 _He knows who they are._

I don't know that!

Someone opened the locker room door and sounds from the hallway filled the room. Instantly we all quieted.

"We'll talk to you later," Annabeth said, before waving her hand through the image. She looked at me. "Let's get to class."

 **x x x**

I marched to my locker and punched it square on. Then again. And then once more. Ignoring the odd looks people gave me, I massaged my temples.

This guy, Tristan Takila, I think his name was, had harassed me all ninth period, and he was lucky I punched my locker instead of him. He kept asking me for the answers to the geometry worksheet, and when I told him no, he took my written essay, spat on it, and then threw it out the open window. I had spent all week working on that, and it was due tomorrow.

Growling under my breath, I grabbed my bag out of my locker, stuffed my computer and folders inside angrily, and then slammed the locker shut.

When I walked out of the school, I snapped. For a good reason, too.

Cooper, somehow, managed to get out of the house and was waiting for me, sitting on his haunches, by the school entrance. That wasn't what set me off. It was the fact that Clarisse and her stupid friends were harassing him by launching spitballs at him and taunting him. I could hear him growling from at least 6 yards away.

When he saw me, he pleaded with me to get those jerks off him, but I was already in action.

"Hey!" I shouted, running down the stairs. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Clarisse turned with a large rock in hand. It looked like she was preparing to throw it at my canine. She sneered. "Oh, look. It's the loser! Did your daddy ruin another party for you yet?"

I clenched my fists. "My father is dead."

The surrounding crowd that was gathering "ooohhed." I was having a hard time pushing my anger back down. I normally don't get irate like this, but when I did, I often had a hard time controlling it.

"Boo hoo," one of Clarisse's friends called. Another spat at my feet. Yet another cracked his knuckles.

I exhaled slowly. "Just leave my dog alone."

Tristan emerged from the crowd of bullies. "Hm, I don't think so."

What was this? It was like the entire bullying community was gearing up for a fight with me. Now that I thought about it, I looked around and saw that a tight circle had been formed around me. Unconsciously I formed a defensive stance. Cooper started to growl again.

"What the heck?" Someone shouted. I turned. Standing at the top of the steps was Liam and Percy, who both looked pretty pissed off.

They both ran down into the crowd and found places beside me.

"What's going on?" Percy asked me.

I shrugged. "Not a clue."

"Who's dog is this?" Liam asked.

"He's mine," I said. I turned back to Clarisse. "And they need to back away from him."

"And what are you gonna do about it?" She asked. "Fight me? Call your police daddy to come and arrest me?"

"No," I said.

"Then what?"

"We'll...uh..."

"We'll tell the principle!" Liam exclaimed, arms crossed. "And then you'll be toast."

A snarling Tristan turned on him. "Oh yeah? Why don't you enlist your dead big brother to help you too?"

The effect on my friend was instantaneous. Immediately his features were consumed with anger and he took a step forward, probably to beat that guy into the ground, but I was already in action.

I saw my fist collide with Tristan's face before I felt it. A small uncomfortable feeling broke out across my knuckles, and I guess you could call it pain, but I was too busy driving my other fist into his gut to notice.

Then pain erupted all over my face, and it felt like I had been hit with a truck. I stumbled backwards and someone pushed me onto my stomach. The bullies laughed. Clarisse stood over me, massaging her knuckle.

Checking to make sure all my teeth were still in my mouth, I scrambled to my feet with the help of Liam and Percy. "That's what you call a punch?" I cracked my neck. "That was barely a tickle."

Clarisse swung again, but this time I ducked, and the strike ended up hitting Percy instead.

Soon a full blown street fight had broken out, and Percy, Liam and I were right in the middle of it. My only hope was that we could last long enough until some kind of teacher wandered outside and helped us.

Tristan came up behind me and tried to strangle me, but I turned quickly and ripped his hands off my neck. Thinking fast, I took my fist and whipped it across his face. Hard. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

I looked over to see Liam and Percy just barely managing to defend themselves until the rest of the kids surrounded them. Percy managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid as Tristan. Clarisse thrust at Percy with her foot. His arm deflected the blow, but I could tell that he was in pain.

I tried to make my way over to Clarisse, but another guy slammed me in the chest with his fist and I hit the dirt. Again. He dragged me over to the others, who had somehow managed to get themselves on the ground.

"How's the party, guys?" I coughed. Clarisse kicked me in the ribs and I recoiled.

"Leave her alone!" Liam said, scrambling to his feet.

"Yeah!" Percy said. He stood as well.

They helped me stand, and I wiped a small amount of blood off my forehead. "Leave us alone. Leave my dog alone."

"I'm scared of this chick, guys," Clarisse said. "Real scared."

Someone kicked me in the back and I stumbled, but didn't fall. Another person swept my legs out from under me and I hit my head on the pavement. Hard.

Instantly the world started spinning and my head felt like someone had taken a chainsaw to it. Concussion, most likely. I groaned.

" _I'll pulverize them!_ "

"No!" I said, holding out a hand to stop Cooper from attacking them. I closed my eyes and thought, praying to whatever God was out there that Cooper could hear me, " _Go get Lawrence."_

Cooper cocked his head at me, then ran off.

I stood clumsily and shook my head to steady myself. "C'mon. Is that the best you guys got?"

Liam and Percy and I formed a tight triangle.

"Does anyone else think this is a scene from a movie or something?" Percy asked.

"Or maybe an author on Fanfiction trying to spice up her story?" Liam recommended. Percy and I looked at him. "What?"

I snorted to lighten my own mood. _Please hurry, Cooper._

Clarisse charged at me head-first like a bull and I stepped out of the way, simultaneously tripping her. She fell into the crowd of bullies and they helped her stand.

"I don't want to fight you," I said, and I meant it.

"Well, I do."

I threw my hands up in the air in defeat, ducked her next kick, and swept her legs out from under her.

What? She was asking for it.

"What is going on out here?!"

"Crap," Liam muttered.

As one, we all turned and looked at the assistant principal, Mr. Briggs, who was standing with his arms crossed and looking straight at me.

"Heh heh." I said.

 **x x x**

"Somebody please explain to me what was going on out there!" Mr. Briggs said.

We were all silent. Seeing as Clarisse, Tristan, Liam, Percy and I were all stuck in the principle's office with Mr. Briggs, Mr. Quorido (the actual principle), and all of our parents, I thought it was wise to remain silent.

"I'll ask one more time. What. Was. That."

"Sir," Liam started.

"They attacked us!" Tristan shouted.

"Ow," I moaned, holding my head. "Headache. Quiet. Ouch."

"That's not true!" Percy protested.

"Yeah!" Liam agreed. "They were harassing Alex's dog."

"And so you felt the need to attack them?" Mr. Quorido said.

"Well, no, but—"

"It's my fault, sir." I said. "Tristan made fun of Liam and I guess my temper got the best of me."

Lawrence shot me a glare. I lifted my hands in a "What?" gesture.

Mr. Briggs turned to Clarisse and Tristan. "Is this true?"

They looked at each other in defeat before mumbling, "Yes, sir."

Mr. Briggs straightened. "Very well. You two may leave — with a months's detention."

Their parents dragged them out by the ear with a lot of complaints from the pair and shouting from the parents. We were all left wide-eyed once they had left.

Mr. Briggs turned his demon eyes on us. "Be it as it may, Alex, what you did for your friend wasn't bad. But don't do it again, or you'll receive the same fate as those two troublemakers. And since this is your first fight on school grounds and it was for an honorable reason, you're off the hook."

I looked at Liam and Percy. "What about them?"

Mr. Quorido stood from his leather office chair. "You two were just helping your friend, correct?"

"Yes," Percy mumbled. His mother was shooting him a glare of her own. Other than that, she looked really nice. She had a few gray hairs in her long brown hair, and a kind face, despite the fact that she was melting her son with a gaze.

"Yeah." Liam said. He still looked pretty angry, even after we beat the crap out of Tristan. I decided to ask him about it later.

His mother also had a kind face, along with curly red hair and blue eyes. She was very pretty, and she didn't seem too mad about the whole "fight" thing.

Mr. Quorido and Mr. Briggs looked at each other, as if having a silent conversation. Mr. Briggs seemed pretty pissed and Mr. Quorido sympathetic. Finally they turned back to us.

"You're off the hook."

 **Ha ha ha, the next chapter is gonna get interesting! *laughs maniacally* I'll try to update quickly, and I may have some review recognitions along with it to celebrate 1,500 views! So please review guys!**


	14. ONCE IS COINCIDENCE, TWICE IS IDIOCY

"So you got in a fight." Lawrence said as we walked down the cement steps towards his police car. I mean, seriously, does he not have another car?

I patted Cooper on the head as we walked. "Yep. Please tell me the next stop is the Doctor?"

He looked at me. "You got banged up that bad?"

I shrugged. "Well, seeing as the world is spinning and my entire body is aching, I would say yeah."

Lawrence sighed as Cooper jumped in the back seat of the car. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt."

I rolled my eyes and stepped into the passenger's side.

When we got to the nearest Doctor's office, I had to wait for an hour, during which I worked on re-writing my essay. I got Lawrence to spell-check me, since I was writing on paper. If I hadn't already beat up Tristan, I would have shoved his head into a toilet.

I paused, my pencil still on the paper. What was it Tristan had said? Why don't you enlist your dead brother to help you too?

How come I had never heard of that? I had no clue that Liam'd had a big brother. Was he Zeus's kid too? And if that was true, I wanted to know how he died.

I wasn't trying to be nosy. I just was naturally nervous. Liam was a good friend, (at least, one of the few that I have) and I just wanted to know a little more about him.

"Alexandra?"

I jumped out of my chair in surprise, dropping my paper and pencil and textbook I had been using as a table. "Yeah?"

The nurse waved at me. "Follow me, please."

Lawrence sighed and followed me as I followed the nurse. She led us to a room with one of those patient tables and made me sit on said patient table.

"What seems to be the problem?" She asked.

"Well," I said. "Let's see. I got into a fight at school and got beat up pretty bad."

The nurse winced. "Yikes. Well, I'll send the Doctor in to get you all bandaged up."

"Thanks," I groaned, lying down.

Turns out I got 5 bandages.

 **x x x**

"Psst."

"What do you want, Chelsea?" I said, concentrating very much on the pencil writing neatly on my lined notebook paper.

"Do you have a minute?"

I sighed and placed my pencil down gently. "Sure. The period is about to end anyways."

Chelsea was a nice girl, with glasses and brown hair. She had quickly become my only friend in my Social Studies class, since I was the only one from my friend group who had it that period.

"Okay, well...you see that girl Lindsay over there?" She pointed to the head cheerleader with red hair and a cold smile who was flirting with the quarterback in the rear of the classroom.

"Yeah?"

"Well, can you go up to her and ask her to leave me alone?"

I looked back at Chelsea with eyebrow raised. "Chelsea, you have to learn to stand up for yourself!"

"Shh!" The teacher shushed.

"Sorry," Chelsea and I apologized.

"What?" Chelsea whisper-demanded. "You know I can't do that!"

I stared at her. "Why not?"

She glanced at Lindsay. "She scares me."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

When the bell rang, Chelsea and I followed Lindsay outside of the classroom. And when I say "Chelsea and I," I mean just me. Chelsea hid in the doorway and watched while I spoke to the cheerleader.

"Hey, Lindsay!" I said, jogging to catch up with her.

"Yeah?" She turned around as she walked, so that she was soon walking backwards.

I glanced back at Chelsea. "Uh, I have a friend who is slightly afraid of you."

Lindsay looked confused. "Why would she be scared of me?"

I shrugged, and then winced when a bandage on my rib cage scraped against my cut when Clarisse kicked me there. "Honestly? I don't know, but Chelsea seems to be afraid of you specifically, so I think it would be best for both of you if you just stayed away from each other."

She nodded. "Okay."

I paused. "Just like that?" I chuckled. "The way Chelsea described you, I would have thought you were some kind of monster."

Lindsay laughed. "No. I guess Chelsea and I just...don't see eye to eye."

I nodded and smiled. "Okay then. I guess...I'll go away now."

I waved my Chelsea as I walked back over to her. "Coast is clear."

She exhaled in relief. "Oh, thank god."

"You know, she was actually really nice."

"Yeah, to you, maybe. Anyways, I gotta go, I'm gonna be late for my next class." Chelsea and I fist bumped before I realized that I had class too, and promptly sprinted down the hallway.

 **x x x**

"Bathroom. Now." Annabeth grabbed my arm right as I set my tray down.

"Wait, what? Annabeth, I just got my lunch." I said, confused. "What is it?" I was really hoping that there was just a spider in the bathroom that she wanted me to kill, so that I wouldn't have to abandon my roast beef, turkey, provolone bacon sandwich with mustard on rye. They were having a special.

"It's important," Thalia chimed in from behind.

I sighed. "Well, that explains why no one is at the lunch table today. Let's go."

Annabeth and Thalia started to drag me off, but I managed to snag my sandwich at the last minute and take a bite or three as we ran to the bathroom.

As soon as we ran into the women's bathroom, I spit all my sandwich out of my mouth and all over Beckendorf. He wiped mustard off his face in disgust.

"Guys!" I screeched. "This is the woman's bathroom!"

"Yeah." Percy said, arms crossed. He did not look happy. "We know."

"Trust me, this was not our idea," Liam said. "Grover is in one of the stalls bleating because he's so upset."

"Blah-ha-ha! No I'm not!" Grover called from inside said stall.

"What's the problem?" I said, leaning against a wall and crossing my arms.

Annabeth looked at me while making sure that the entrance to the bathroom was secure and that nobody was going to sneak up on us. "Chiron? Why don't you tell them?"

"Certainly."

"JESUS!" I shouted, jumping so high into the air that I almost took out the sink with my foot.

Over in the corner, in a steady stream of mist coming from one of the random shower heads that nobody ever used, was an Iris-Message of Chiron. As far as I could tell, he was still vacationing on Olympus, though Annabeth told me he was supposed to be coming back today. However, given the urgency of this Iris Message, I guessed that was no longer the case.

"What's wrong?" Beckendorf asked.

Chiron glanced over his shoulder, like he was afraid someone might be watching. I could faintly make out faint arguing in the background, though no one was nearby. "Zeus has sent an assassin into the school."

" _What_?" Liam nearly yelled.

"Why would he do that!?" Thalia demanded.

"He's been led to believe that the demigod he wants to kill is in Goode High. By who, I don't know." Chiron looked extremely troubled. Even more than his usual.

"What kind of assassin?" Grover called from the stall.

"Yeah," Percy said. "Is it a Dracanae? A cyclops? A hellhound?"

"Oh, maybe it's a Kindly One!" Liam said.

"Don't sound so excited," Chiron said. "He's sent an Empousai."

Silence. Grover bleated loudly from the stall again.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Did you just say Empousai?"

"Creepy vampire ladies," Liam explained quickly. "Like to suck the blood of men."

"Time out," I held up a hand. "Chiron, I thought you said that there were magic barriers around the school and that no monster could get in!"

"Unless someone summoned it," Annabeth pointed out.

I blinked.

"Wait, so you're saying that a demigod in the school summoned it?" Percy said. "That's impossible."

"Is it, Percy?" Annabeth said.

"Whatever the case," Chiron interrupted, "we have to find it and kill it before it tries to assassinate anyone in the school."

"Yeah, one little problem," I said. "We don't know what it looks like."

"Alex has a point," Thalia said. "It could be disguised as anyone in the school."

"Actually," Chiron started, "I already know who it is."

"Really? That's great!" Annabeth said. "Who is it?"

"It's...ch...someo—access—school." The image of Chiron started getting fuzzy.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"We're losing the connection," Annabeth said. "I bet it's that big snow storm that's supposed to roll in today. Chiron! Chiron, can you repeat that?"

"What?" He said. "I...Zeus...storm...ch—" Chiron looked over his shoulder suddenly. "I hav—go." He swiped his hand through the image and the connection was lost.

Everyone was silent.

I looked down at my sandwich. Somehow it didn't seem as appetizing as before.

 **x x x**

"How are we supposed to find this thing?" I demanded. "There are hundreds of kids in this school."

"Speaking of which," Percy said, turning in his seat at the library table to face Grover. "How did you not smell the donkey-lady beforehand?"

Grover disguised his tin can in his hand and swallowed it whole. (The can, not his hand) One of these days he was gonna choke. "Mmpph?"

"That's a good question, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "How did you not smell the Empousai, Grover?"

Grover's eyes bulged out of his head. "Um..." He seemed perturbed by the fact that we were all staring at him. "Well, there are a lot of kids in this school. It's entirely possible that the smell of all the mortals mixed with half-bloods could have covered up one monster's scent."

I ate a chip from a bag of Lays that I got from a vending machine. "That sucks."

"No, that smells," Liam said, with a chuckle. I stared at him. "What?" He stopped laughing. "Not funny? Okay, I get it."

I chuckled and ate another chip. Thalia raised an eyebrow at me. I gave her a confused look.

"Anyways," Beckendorf said. "We need to find a way to track this thing down."

"Well, it all depends on how long she's been here," Annabeth said. "If she's been here a while, she'll be harder to catch. If she's only been here for a short amount of time, she'll need to feed soon."

"Does anyone else feel like Buffie the Vampire Slayer?" Thalia said.

I blinked. "I don't know what that is."

"It doesn't matter," Grover said. "We just need to find this thing and kill it before it decides to have a goat buffet."

We all stared at him.

"Oh, and make sure you guys don't get eaten either."

I rolled my eyes and pulled out a random book. "Why are we here again?"

"Chiron hid a section of books here for demigods specifically," Annabeth said.

"What?" Liam said. "When did he do that?"

Thalia snorted. "Way before you got here."

"But there should be one here that can give us the information we need." Annabeth finished.

"Great." Percy said. "A bunch of dyslexics looking through books. What could go wrong?"

Annabeth threw a book at his face and we all rolled our eyes.

"When are they going to start dating?" I whispered to Thalia.

"I bet you 10 bucks it'll happen by the end of the year."

"Hmm. I'd say the end of the school year. They've got too much attitude for that."

"Make it 20 and you're on."

"Deal."

"What are you guys whispering about?" Percy asked.

"Nothing," Thalia and I said in unison.

"Books!" Annabeth snapped. Something tells me that Thalia and I aren't good whisperers.

"Right!" Thalia said. "Books."

She winked at me as we scoured the shelves and I laughed.

 **x x x**

"Found it!" Liam said. "I think."

"Let me see." Annabeth said. Liam handed her a green book that looked very old and battered.

She flipped through a few pages, winced at a few of them, and then nodded. "He's right. This is the one."

We all crowded around her and listenend as she read.

"The empousai are the beautiful daughters of the goddess H-Hecate and the...spirit Mormo. They f-f-f-feast on the b-blood of se-se...seduced men as they slept. Empousai are created by combining together dark magic, animal, and bronze. Empousai are p-pictured as wearing b-b-b-bra...bronze slippers and bearing flaming hair. This is because they are a one-legged by...dy...hy-hybrid, with a donkey's leg and a Crle...C-Celestial Bronze leg. There is species of heart...no, H-Hecatean demon called an Empousa." Annabeth took a deep breath. "Screw it, you guys just read it."

I shrugged and then winced when my forehead ached. I need to stop doing that.

The empusai are sent by Hecate to guard roads and devour travelers. According to some records, the empusai ran and hid, uttering a high-pitched scream at the sound of insults. The empousai are best known for their appearance in Aristophanes's The Frogs, in which they scared Dionysus and Xanthias on their way to the Underworld. They originated when Pandora opened the pithos that she was given. When she opened it, the first empousa was released.

With their stunning looks, they can make a man fall under their spell to incapacitate them. They can also offer a kiss to the young man in hopes of having him come close to her so that she can prey on them easily. In some cases, if the man has enough willpower, then he can snap out of the spell. Their true form can paralyze a man just by the sheer sight of them. They use this form to drink blood but may also be used to seduce men. Some empousai may know that people are watching them in dreams. They are able to manipulate the Mist, change shape, and are able to charmspeak. Older empousai have the power to escape in a shower of flames.

"We better hope we're not dealing with an old one," I said.

"No kidding," Liam said.

"That would make it difficult to kill," Annabeth said. "We have to stay after school to hunt this thing. It'll be better if no one is here."

"That reminds me, what time is it?" Beckendorf asked.

I pulled out my watch. "Uh...3:20." I scrunched my eyebrows together. "That's weird. How come they haven't let everyone out yet?"

"Uh...guys?" Grover said. He pointed his pencil towards the glass window.

I followed his gaze towards said window and gasped.

Usually I had a clear view of the wonderful parking lot, with the stray weed, but now all I could see was a significant amount of white. And it was still snowing. There was no way we could leave the school or get on the roads with that much snow.

"Skatá." I swore aloud in Greek without realizing it.

"We're trapped here." Percy said.

 **x x x**

"This is so lame," Thalia said. "I don't want to spend the whole night with you guys — not to mention the whole school!"

"Wow, thanks sis," Liam replied as he laid a sleeping bag on the ground.

"It's not our fault that a blizzard trapped us in this dumb school." Percy added.

I laid down a school-issued bed spread and sat down. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Liam and Thalia were related, if only by a father. No wonder they were so upset during that Iris Message.

"Hey, don't hurt yourself, champ." Liam said. "Don't want your wounds to reopen."

I shrugged, but then winced when the bandage on my forehead shifted. "I have to stop doing that!"

"What? Shrugging?" Annabeth asked.

I gestured to my bandages. "Ouch."

"Oh."

I sighed and stared at the ceiling. This day was not turning out well. I fidgeted with my watch as a pack of cheerleaders passed by us. They waved and flirted with the guys in my friend group.

I frowned. Flirting with my friends I can handle. I might even help you. But I felt kinda weird when Liam waved back at the cheerleaders with a goofy smile. Kinda like I wanted to shoot them all with my bow.

I couldn't be—

No. No, this was just concern for a friend. A lot of those cheerleaders bounced around from guy to guy and I didn't want him to get hurt. That's all it was.

...right?

 _Focus!_

I coughed and tried to fix my attention on the problem at hand: how to kill a psycho-vampire-donkey...thing. "So...quick question. How and when are we going to go after the Empousa when there are all these people in the school?"

Annabeth sat next to me. "Well, if I know high-schoolers at all, they'll all be in one place so that they don't feel left out."

"Don't forget the occasional couple making out in the dark hallway," Thalia added.

"...Right."

"Anyways," I said, checking my watch. "It's 5:00, so if we're gonna make a move, we better do it now."

"We need a plan," Liam said, sitting down as well.

"Well," Annabeth stroked her chin. "We should split into teams of two. One guy and one girl. That way, if she tries to put her spell over any of these guys —" she jerked a thumb over at Liam, Percy, Grover, and Beckendorf. "The girl can snap them out of it."

"Or stab her," Thalia nodded. "Good idea. I'll go with Grover, Annabeth can go with Percy, and Liam can go with Alex."

I shot her a glare and she retorted with a knowing glance.

"Alright," Liam said, oblivious to the eye-war between me and his sister. "But what about Beckendorf?"

Beckendorf waved at us as if we had forgotten he was there.

"Right," Annabeth said. "Uh...Beckendorf, you can go find Selina and tell her the situation, she has the most demigod connections and she can spread the word."

Beckendorf seemed paler than usual, but he nodded and saluted.

"The rest of us will search the hallways. If I had to bet, I would say that she's searching the hallways for couples for her first meal. She needs to gain strength. This snow storm is the perfect opportunity to find whoever it is she thinks she's searching for. Let's meet back here in 3 hours."

"Okay." I said. "I guess we'll take the east hallway. See you in 3 hours."

Annabeth and Percy took the North Hallway, and Thalia and Grover took the West. To be honest, I would have felt safer carrying my bow in my hands, but we couldn't take out our weapons with so many mortals nearby. Which brought up another problem: the cafeteria was full of kids on their cellphones, demigods included. Which I guess under normal circumstances would have been fine, but considering we had an Empousai on the loose, it only heightened my frustration. Hopefully Beckendorf and Selina could knock some sense into them.

"Any idea who it might be?" I asked Liam as we passed the cafeteria and entered the east hallway.

"The ones that Percy ran into a while back were disguised as cheerleaders," Liam said. "That's where I would start."

"Hold on a minute. You're telling me that Percy encountered these things before? Why didn't he say anything?"

Liam sighed as he stepped over a discarded book bag that had spilled out of an open locker. "Probably because the tale upsets Annabeth. Everyone knows they have a thing for each other, and it involves seducing vampires and some mortal girl. I don't remember the whole story."

I snorted. Well, at least everyone but those two knew what was going on between them.

We walked in silence as we entered another dimly lit hallway. If I didn't know better, I'd say we were in some kind of horror movie. The only positive about stepping into an area without people was that we could take out our weapons. Liam's bronze sword cast a dim light over the tiles on the floor. I tried to pay close attention to my surroundings and watch for any signs of a monster.

As we walked past the custodian's closet, a thought occurred to me. "Liam?"

"Yes, Red?"

"Chiron said that the Empousai thinks that whoever Zeus wants dead is in the school, but he made it sound like they were wrong. Is there any chance that the Empousai is right?"

Liam tensed and stopped walking, the way he always did whenever we got close to a touchy subject. "I...I mean...it's certainly possible, but not very likely."

"Why not?" I said. "There are already a whole bunch of demigods here. What better place to hide from a god than where monsters can't reach you?"

Liam shook his head. "It's not...possible."

"What? How do you know?"

"Because I was...I mean, I just do."

"That's a terrible answer!"

"Well, it's still an answer, and it's the one I'm sticking with."

"That's bull."

"Shh."

"Don't shush me!"

"Shh!" Liam took a giant step forward and clamped a hand over my mouth."Listen," he whispered.

I wasn't happy about it, but I shut my mouth, grit my teeth, and listened hard.

 _Click CLOMP. Click CLOMP. Click CLOMP._

"It's her!" Liam mouthed.

I nodded and looked for a place to hide. If all the stories about this thing were true, we'd need the element of surprise. And yes, I know how dumb this'll sound in a minute.

Let's see, there was a dark corner, that wouldn't do. There was an open locker, but I didn't feel keen on getting stuffed in there and there was no room for both of us.

The custodian's closet!

"We need the element of surprise," I whispered to my accomplice.

 _Click CLOMP. Click CLOMP._

"So?" Liam whispered back.

 _Click CLOMP. Click CLOMP._

"Get in the closet!"

"Oh!"

I opened the closet and shoved Liam inside before diving in myself. I shut the door which a gentle snick.

I glanced behind me at Liam, who had his sword at the ready. I notched an arrow on my bow.

 _Click CLOMP. Click CLOMP. Click —_

The Empousai paused. She must have been right outside the door, because I could hear her breathing heavily, and what sounded like sniffing.

I swore inwardly. She could smell us; she knew exactly where we were.

I kicked the door opened as hard as I could, launching the Empousai backwards and sending an unpleasant sensation arcing up my leg.

This may sound a little crazy, but the hallway actually seemed a little darker now that the Empousai was present. Speaking of which, the she-demon (complete with literally burning hair and a donkey and celestial bronze leg) popped up from the ground and slashed at me with scary talons. I barely managed to dodge in time and rolled out of the closet, giving Liam a full opportunity to slash at her with his sword, which he did.

The Empousa howled in pain, and when she turned into the light, I could see a long scratch reaching from her forehead to her chin. But why didn't Liam kill her?

"Agh! Stupid demigods!" The Empousa screeched. Her voice sounded like someone rolled over a bag of gravel and then stabbed it with a knife a couple times.

When I glanced at Liam, he looked thoroughly confused, like he was in some kind of trance.

"Oh, hell." I said, shooting an arrow at her face and then turning and slapping Liam. Hard.

His face returned to normal. With a hint of pain and shock. "Ow! What was that for?"

I turned back to face the demon. "You'll thank me later. Where'd she go?"

"I think you scared her off." Liam said, from behind me.

Behind me.

He was still in front of the closet.

That's not good.

"Move!" I shouted, right before the Empousai reappeared with talons drawn and pointy teeth extended in my direction.

But here's the twist: instead of ripping me apart with her talons or tearing my throat out with her teeth, (which she totally could have done, since I was unprepared) she rammed her head into my stomach and shoved me backwards into Liam, and together we fell backwards into the closet. I launched myself upwards right as she slammed the door shut with a BOOM!

"No!" I shouted, shoving my shoulder as hard as I could into the wood of the door. All I did was injure my shoulder and make myself look stupid. "Agh!" I couldn't open the door, but I could loudly swear at her in Greek.

"Please don't tell me we're locked in here," Liam said from behind me.

I turned around. His eyes were closed, his fists were clenched, and he looked as white as a bed sheet.

"That's the least of our problems," I said. "Not only were we locked in a closet by a she-demon from hell, but now she knows exactly where to go for human takeout."

 **Confession time.**

 **I've been wanting to write this chapter for forever. I had the idea when I first started writing this story, and it's stuck with me ever since. I also wrote it really fast, so I hope it doesn't seem rushed.** **Also, review recognition time (because I promised, and forgot about it until I wrote this author's note)(also if this seems creepy or strange it's because I have no idea what I'm doing):**

 **BlazingSkittles15: You keep reminding me that I'm not as bad of a writer as I think I am, which is pretty cool. I need to hear that sometimes.**

 **Digidestined10:** **You're the dude who reminds me to keep updating, and for that I thank you for getting me to stop b** **eing lazy.**

 **One timer reviewers:**

 **fieryheart959: Thank you for complementing my use of an OC, and my storyline. I really hope that I can keep up the good work.**

 **CookieUnicorn: Again, thank you for reminding me that I am not a horrible writer.**

 **I may have some more next time I update.**


	15. I AM GOBSMACKED

**OH MY GOOOOOSSHH I HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK SOOOO BAAAAAD.**

 **I am so sorry that I took this long to update, but I just couldn't think of a good ending for this chapter until today. Please forgive me.**

"Liam," I said, my voice eerily calm. "Please tell me you have some kind of cellphone or walkie talkie on you."

He shook his head. "Can't. Using cellphones alerts monsters—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I interrupted. "I'm just trying not to freak out." Okay, that was an exaggeration. I was just trying to help Liam not to freak out, or at the very least, help him not to feel bad about being in the verge of a panic attack.

We were both sitting down in the Janitor's closet, our backs against the wall, knees up, sitting across from each other. Liam was still pale — well, paler, now that I think about it — and my watch said that it was definitely dark out now, since it was 6:04. At this rate, we were going to miss dinner. I needed food, especially if I ever got out of here and stabbed that she-demon right in her ugly throat.

"Alex?" Liam was waving his hand around in an attempt to catch my attention. "Please, I need to talk to someone or I'm gonna go crazy."

I sighed. "Craz _ier_ , Liam. Craz _ier_."

Liam laughed softly. "Yeah, I guess."

We were both silent for a moment. Everyone has some type of fantasy where they get locked in a closet with a handsome guy, but nobody realizes just how _awkward_ it is.

Oh Gods. I did _not_ just call Liam handsome. Just...forget I said that. I think the tight space is getting to my head.

"Alex?" Liam asked. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I said quickly. Too quickly. He looked at me curiously, but said nothing, for which I thanked the God of awkward-teenage-girls. "Any idea what we should talk about?"

Liam got a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Sure. Let's talk about you."

I blinked. "What?"

"You heard me. You know a bit about me, but I hardly know anything about your life."

"What _do_ you know about me, doofus?"

Liam tapped his chin. "Uh, let me see...You used to go to school in Ohio," Lie. "You have a temper, you like to write, your guardian is a cop, and you just moved to New York." That last one was a lie too. And I think we both knew it. "Anyways, back to my original thought."

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"Any siblings?"

"Ha, no."

"Favorite book?"

"Uh...The 5th wave?"

"Hmm." He seemed unsatisfied with my answer.

"What?"

"I would have picked something else."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Continue."

"Favorite movie?"

I actually had to think about that one. "Er...Star Wars 7." During my first days living with Lawrence, he sat me down on the couch and made me watch all the movies in the Star Wars Series in the 'correct order.'

Liam's jaw dropped. "No way."

"What is it now?"

He smiled widely. "You're a nerd."

"Wha— I am not!"

Liam threw his head back and laughed, letting the light reflect almost painfully off his green eyes. As I looked closer (not in a creepy way or anything, I swear), I could tell that he actually had small flecks of electric blue scattered across his cornea.

"What about you?" I said.

"What about me?"

I crossed my arms. "Got any siblings?"

Liam nodded. "Yeah. Her name's Jasmine. I think she's in 6th grade? Yeah, that sounds right."

Again my thoughts drifted to what Tristan had said, but I withheld my "who's your dead brother" card.

"Okay..." I thought about my next question. "Uh, favorite passtime?"

Liam's smile faded slightly. "Okay, this is going to sound ridiculous, but...I've always loved going to those drive-in movies."

I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"Don't laugh at me!"

"No! I wasn't laughing at you."

"Then what were you laughing at?"

I sighed. "Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but you're the first guy I've met who's got an open and a little unique mind."

"Thank you," Liam said. "I try my best."

"Well, you shouldn't ever stop trying. Some people transform into brainless cucumbers."

Liam laughed loudly. "Brainless cucumbers? I'll have to use that someday."

I snorted. "Whatever. How long do you think we'll be trapped in here?"

"What time is it?"

"Uh...6:32."

"Well, Annabeth said to meet back in the cafeteria at 8. When we don't show up, they'll know something's wrong."

"True." I said. "How long do you think it'll take to find us?"

"Well, all they have to do is follow the same route that we took, and they'll find us." Liam seemed to be reassuring himself more than me.

"Okay," I said. "Not to upset you, or anything, but they don't know that we're locked in a closet."

"Éla tóra!" Liam shouted, which was Greek for, "Oh, come on!"

"Woah, calm down!" I said. I transformed my watch into a bow and pulled an arrow out of my quiver. "Here, I'll stick the arrow under the door, they'll see it, and then they'll rescue us." I stuck the arrowhead and half the shaft under the door.

"I sure hope so." He had closed his eyes.

"Lindsay!" I shouted suddenly.

"What?" Liam said. "Isn't that the head cheer...oh."

"Liam, my friend Chelsea was terrified of Lindsay this morning!" I slapped my forehead. "She must have known she was an Empousai!"

"That's a good theory," Liam said. He pointed at me. "But we're still stuck in a closet."

"Oh."

 **x x x**

I am going to die if I am stuck in this closet for one more minute. But that was nothing compared to how Liam looked. He seriously looked ready to pass out.

"Liam, are you claustrophobic?" I asked.

He flinched. "W-why do you ask?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Liam, for the past hour or so, you've been pale and shaky. Your dad is lord of the sky. It'd make sense if you were."

He sighed and looked up towards the low ceiling. "Fine! Yes, Alex, I'm claustrophobic!"

I frowned. We had been locked in a tiny closet for an hour and he never thought to mention this? "How are you doing?"

He closed his eyes again and took deep breaths. "Not so good."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Just...just keep talking."

"About what?"

"Anything."

I cleared my throat. "Okay. Will a serious question take your mind off of things?"

Liam opened one eye and peered at me. "Maybe."

"Okay." I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. "So, you know when we got into that fight with Tristan and Clarisse like, two days ago?"

He nodded and smiled. "That was fun."

I gestured to the bandage on my forehead. "Not for me."

"Oh, sorry. What was the question again?"

"Right. Um, what...what did Tristan mean when he—"

"Talked about my big brother?" Now Liam was looking at me dead on. "He was telling the truth."

I bit my lip. "Sorry."

"Don't be. I just...I just don't talk about him much."

I stayed silent. He didn't have to tell me if he didn't want to.

Liam adjusted his position on the ground and rubbed his neck. "His name was Jake." He breathed out. "I...well, I guess you should probably know that I lived in Nashville until I was eight. Jake...well, he died two months before my 8th birthday. He was 13."

"You don't have to tell me this, you know." I said.

Liam shrugged. "I want to."

We stared at each other for a moment before he continued.

"Jake was a regular mortal, but he could see through the mist. I think Percy's mom can do it too, but he didn't fully understand what it was until my mother explained it to him. After that he met his best friend, Alfred. We called him Alfie for short. Anyways, Alfie was a child of Hermes, so he understood what was going on. He and my brother got into a whole bunch of trouble — until they ran into a Dracanae. Alfie wasn't that good of a fighter, and they ran away. But the Dracanae found where we lived..."

"No." I said.

"Yeah. A lot of people don't think that monsters like to kill mortals, but they hate the ones that can see through the mist. They don't like them blowing the whistle on their disguises. I was the one who found it." Liam laid his head against the wall with a thud and looked at the ceiling. "That Dracanae was the first monster I ever killed."

I moved over to Liam and sat next to him. "Liam..." He looked at me. His eyes were red. "I'm sorry. I never should have asked."

He shrugged again. "Nah, it's fine. Really. I guess you deserved to know."

I pushed my shoulder into his in an effort to cheer him up. He smiled and shoved his shoulder back into mine.

THUMP.

"What was that?" I said, scrambling to my feet and grabbing my bow off the ground.

Liam looked at me as he grabbed his sword. "Snack time?"

I grimaced. "Sure hope not."

 _THUMP_.

"Try harder!" A voice said.

"Why don't you try it then, wise girl?"

"Percy?" Liam said.

"Liam?" The voice said. "Is that you? Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine!" I said. "Just get us out of here!"

"We're—" _THUMP_. "—trying!"

"Are you guys literally just attacking this thing?" Liam said. "We tried that. It won't work."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Let Annabeth come up with the plan, Percy!" I said.

"What exactly did she do to the door?" Liam asked.

"She completely melted the handle off! Advantages of having flaming hair, I suppose." Percy grunted. _THUMP_.

"Stop hitting the door!" I said.

"Try hitting the handle!" Annabeth said.

"What?" Liam said. "There's no way that will—"

THUMP.

The door swung open with so much force that I had to jump out of the way to avoid being squashed. Percy and Annabeth stood at the door with weapons drawn.

"Guys!" I said. "How'd you know we were here? It's not even 8 yet!"

"We encountered the Empousai and saw an arrow sticking out of her bronze leg." Annabeth said. "We figured that could only be your work. We followed your guys' route and found the arrow under the door."

I stuck my tongue out at Liam. "Told you."

He crossed his arms and stepped out of the closet. "Whatever."

I rolled my eyes and stepped fully out of the closet. "Let's go find that empousai and kick the crap out of her."

"But first," Liam said, holding up a finger. "We need food."

 **x x x**

"So let me get this straight," Annabeth said. "You think Lindsay is the Empousai."

"Yep." Liam ate a French fry.

I slurped my drink. "It makes sense."

"They have a point," Thalia said. "She is one of the nastiest cheerleaders with the most boyfriends."

"That are all still alive!" Annabeth insisted. "I don't know, guys. It seems a little too simple."

"That's good, right?" Percy said.

"No, it's not." Grover said.

"Whoever she is, it doesn't matter." Thalia said. "We just need to get rid of her."

"I have an idea about that," Annabeth said.

"What is it?" I asked. "Do we need a net or anything?"

"No. We need the PA system. Who wants to embarrass themselves?"

 **x x x**

"This is a bad idea," Grover said, fidgeting with the small horns on his head nervously.

"Relax," I said. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be right here to protect you. Do you have the script-thingy?"

"Yeah," he said, waving around a small piece of paper. "But won't the principal notice if we sneak into his office?"

I sighed. "Mr. Quorido wasn't here today, remember? The secretary had to do the morning announcements. Besides, anyone that could catch us is in the cafeteria keeping a handle on the other kids."

Grover gave in. "Fine. But how do you have the keys to his office?"

I grinned. "The janitor left his keys in the closet. Now come on."

I tossed the keys over to him and watched the hallway with an arrow on my bowstring. The plan was to break in to the principal's office, and use the PA system to announce a whole bunch of insults. Hopefully the Empousai would run and scream at the sound of them, and we'd be able to figure out where she was. The only problem (that I hadn't told Grover about) was that as soon as the PA system went off, the teachers will notice and send someone to investigate. Hopefully Beckendorf and the other demigods could stall them.

"Got it," Grover said.

"Great," I said. "C'mon. Let's hurry this up."

I followed Grover inside the office, paying close attention to the exterior. If anyone snuck up on us now, we were so screwed.

"Okay, so how does this thing work?" I turned around to find him fiddling with the PA controls.

"I think you press that button," I said, pointing to a black button at the base of the microphone.

"Oh. Right."

I turned back to the windows, trying to see if anything out there was moving. So far there was nothing.

Suddenly a squeal cut through the hallways, and I winced.

"Oh! Sorry," Grover said. His voice was being broadcasted across the entire school. "Uh," he swallowed. "The principal has asked me to give a list of insults that students a-are forbidden to say." I gestured for him to get on with it. "Er...for starters, there's pig-face, fatso, and dumbo—"

A shriek resounded throughout the school, nearly piercing my eardrums. On instinct, I immediately scanned the hallway with an arrow aimed at anything that moved. So far there was nothing.

"Keep going!" I said. "I can't tell where she is!"

"Alright, next there is elephant-ears," Screech. "Freak," Screech. "And and dog-butt." The last piercing scream was very clearly coming from the band room, the most perfect place to hide.

I waved Grover off the microphone and he followed me as I ran full speed after the demon.

As I ran, I noticed that my side was throbbing painfully, probably due to the fight with Tristan and Clarisse. If I didn't catch up to her soon, I was afraid I was going to pass out.

I stayed on course and nearly rammed right into Liam and Thalia as they dashed in the same direction.

Despite the situation, I cursed the fact that I constantly was running into the son of Zeus. It was like we were jinxed, or something of the sort.

When we finally reached the band room, the sight that I saw chilled me to the core.

Not only was Lindsay aiming a crossbow at Chelsea's head, and not only was Chelsea holding a knife in her hand, and not only was there an arrow sticking out of my friends leg, but as I watched, she slowly transformed into the she-demon that locked Liam and I in a closet.

Crap.

 **Please Review!**


	16. SHOVELING MY PROBLEMS AWAY

**Hey, guys. I have to admit it: I am terrible at updating. I blame it on binge-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, school starting up again, and some Doctor's appointment. And also laziness. But anyways, guess who just hit 3,000 views on this story? Me!**

 **Anyways, enjoy this chapter.**

Chelsea hissed. My eyes were inexplicably drawn to the claws as her nails and the arrow in her bronze leg. The arrow that I had fired.

" _Chelsea_?" I said. "Wha...you—why—WHAT!"

Chelsea just have suddenly realized that I was there, because she reverted into the form I knew her in. "Alex! Wh-what are you doing here?"

I instantly drew my bow and aimed an arrow at her face. I marched closer. "YOU USED ME!"

Lindsay looked at me without moving her crossbow from the Empousai. "I knew she was an Empousai!"

"Why didn't you kill her, then?" Thalia asked from behind me. I kept my fierce gaze directly on my former friend.

"What happened this morning." Lindsay said. "I was going to confront her, but she used Alex to convince me to leave her alone. I figured it was too cowardly a move for an Empousa and started my search somewhere else."

"Yes," Chelsea hissed. "Quite ingenious, isn't it? Manipulating someone to convince someone else that I'm not manipulating. It's in my nature."

I was burning with anger. She had been my friend, and she had used me to save herself. _How had I not seen through her act?_

"Why didn't you kill me?" I demanded. "When you locked us in the closet. You could have killed me, but you didn't. Why?"

She laughed. "So I could see your face when you found out that I wasn't really your friend. Who would be, given the choice?"

The steady flame of rage within me rose to a bonfire, but I paused. "What do you mean by that?"

Chelsea looked from me to the people surrounding me. She laughed again. "You mean you don't see it?"

I looked behind me and saw Annabeth and Percy enter the room. Their eyes widened when they saw the situation.

"Don't see what?" I asked warily.

She laughed once more. The sound was like a bag of snakes on fire. "They're using you even more than I was!"

"Don't listen to her, Alex!" Annabeth said. "Empousai are masters at manipulation!"

I looked between my friends and the demon and let my arrow fly in anger.

At the last moment, Chelsea moved so fast it seemed impossible and had her claw like hands to Liam and Percy's throats. Thalia and Annabeth slashed at her, but she moved out of the way at the last second again. This time she went after Lindsay, who shot arrow after arrow from her crossbow at the demon, but none of them hit her. I aimed for her donkey leg and fired.

Chelsea turned and screamed at me as the arrow pierced her leg and remained stuck in her sinew. For some reason, she didn't turn into dust, but that didn't matter.

I kicked her in the face just as she turned to most likely eat Lindsay, who had managed to knock herself onto the ground. Chelsea went flying backwards and landed in the middle of the room, slamming into a pair of tubas and destroying a drum. Before she could move to get back up again I had placed my foot on her chest and pinned her against the floor.

She struggled, but when I aimed another arrow at her face, she tensed and remained still.

"I just wanna know one thing," She said, cackling once more. "Why do you trust them?"

"Because they're my friends," I said.

Chelsea tried to stand again but I slammed my foot extra hard into her chest to keep her down.

"You're not." I said.

Chelsea looked at the arrow and then at me. "Have you ever killed someone before? Have you ever killed a friend before?"

I drew my bow string back farther. "You're not my friend," I snarled.

And I let the arrow fly.

 **x x x**

I couldn't sleep that night.

The others tried to cheer me up, to tell me that I'd done the right thing. But I had asked them if any of their friends had turned into deadly monsters, and then they left me alone.

I ended up sitting in the library by the window late at night. I had laid in my sleeping bag for an hour remembering what had happened before coming there.

After Chelsea had exploded into dust with a cream that burned itself into my brain, I talked to Lindsay. She had said that she was a child of Apollo. She had also commented that she had never seen someone shoot a bow and arrow like I had, not even Chiron. I ignored it. Lindsay said that she had transferred in a few months ago, hunting an Empousai that was very dangerous. Apparently there was a society of bounty hunters that offered rewards for certain monsters' death. She had even collected Chelsea's dust, as proof. How someone was able to sort that from any other monster's was beyond me. All I knew was that my friend, someone that I trusted (and I don't say that lightly), had used me and betrayed me.

The funny thing was, I actually fooled myself into thinking these past few months that none of my friends would do that to me. That they valued me for me, not just the fact that I was involved in some prophecy or that I could shoot a bow and arrow well. Where unquestioned trust had stood like a Greek pillar, there were now little cracks of doubt, destabilizing the entire structure.

I sighed and slid down in the librarian's office chair. The snow didn't look as bad now, but I guess they didn't want to send people home in the middle of the night.

I rubbed my face. I was absolutely exhausted, but I couldn't sleep. I'd had nights like these before back when I was living in Central Park. Usually I would climb up to a higher branch in my tree and count the stars until I forgot what number came after 4 and I fell asleep. I didn't really have that option here, so I decided to try and read something from the library to calm myself.

I walked over to the section for demigods that Annabeth'd had us dig through and picked a book at random.

My hand landed on a small gray book titled _Demigods_. That was it, just _Demigods_.

I sighed and opened a page about halfway through the book and started to read.

 _Many people assume that all demigods are equally as powerful, but that isn't true. When a god first has a child, they are typically more powerful than any who come before. The older the god or goddess, the more powerful their firstborn child is._

I closed the book and yawned. It had taken me a few minutes just to read that one paragraph, and I didn't feel any more relaxed. I felt more awake, if that was possible. I decided to try and head back to my sleeping bag, and maybe I could ignore Thalia's snoring.

Speaking of which, the goth girl was approaching me as I walked down the hallway. She was feeling her way down the dark hallway like a drunk, using the wall to steady herself.

"Thalia?" I said. "What are you doing out here this late?" The irrational thought that she was spying on me popped into my head, but I pushed it aside. She could barely stay upright, much less relay information. She was sleepwalking.

"I was about to ask you the same question," she slurred. "But w-whatever."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her arm, intending to drag her back to the cafeteria, and she didn't resist me. But she did say something that made me stop.

"Liam's smitten with you, you know," she said.

I sighed. "You have no idea what you're saying right now, do you?"

Thalia smiled like a little kid. "Nope."

I chuckled and pulled her along as she yawned and muttered random things that made no sense, like "Say no to the tadpoles," and "The pink elephants are green."

Eventually I was able to get her back to the sleeping area, where the object of my embarrassment was waiting worriedly.

"There you are!" Liam whispered. He took Thalia from my hands and led her over to her sleeping bag, where she collapsed almost instantly. He turned back to me to say something, but I didn't look him in the eye. Instead, I looked at his chin as he said, "Thanks. I forgot that she sometimes sleepwalks."

I nodded, as a sort of, "You're welcome," but he wasn't done with me yet.

"Are you ok?"

I froze in the middle of turning around, and didn't answer right away. "What do you think?"

His tone was sympathetic. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." I said, shutting him out faster than he could have blinked. I didn't need him under my skin or in my head again.

"Oh. Ok. Goodnight, Alex."

"Night."

I laid back down on my sleeping back and stared at the ceiling while listening to Thalia snore.

I guess I wasn't going to get any sleep.

 **x x x**

"Hey, kid." Lawrence said as I walked up.

I was pretty sure my hair was a mess and I had bags under my eyes, but I attempted a smile none the less. Cooper was waiting for me as well, because he bounded up to me as soon as he saw me.

 _"Heya, Red."_

I leaned down and scratched his ears, and his tail wagged happily. "Hey, Cooper."

 _"That Lawrence guy is weird. He spent all night on the phone with some Rudenheifer lady."_

I looked up at Lawrence, and then back at Cooper. _"The cat lady?"_

 _"Nah. The lady on the phone said she was your geometry teacher."_

"Crap." I muttered. Ms. Rudenheifer probably called my guardian about my grade in that particular class.

"Alright," Lawrence said. "Lets go. You look exhausted."

I shrugged and placed Cooper in the back before sitting in the front seat.

"What'd you do yesterday?"

"What?" I said.

"Yesterday. When you were stuck in the school."

"Oh." I said.

 _Well, I was locked in a utility closet with a boy that I may or may not find attractive and ended up killing a monster who was pretending to be my friend._

"Nothing." I scratched my neck.

Lawrence glanced at me suspiciously as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Ok," he said. "Listen, I have a job for you." I nodded, only half listening. "I'll pay you twenty dollars if you shovel the driveway."

I blinked and turned to look at him incredulously. "Say what?"

"I'll pay you twenty dollars if you shovel the driveway? I need it done by the time I get home tonight, or I'll have to park in the street."

I shook my head yes. "Done."

When I got home, it was 10 below and the driveway had at least a foot and a half of snow on it. Though I was hardly awake and couldn't think straight, I took a shot of espresso, slapped my cheeks, and got to work.

For anyone who has never shoveled a driveway, a word of advice: never, I repeat, NEVER do it when you're not wearing gloves and it's cold and windy. By the time I was done, it was almost 4:00 and my hands were numb.

I rubbed my palms together in an attempt to get feeling back in them, and looked across the street at Mrs. Nancy's house. The driveway was not shoveled, and her car wasn't in the driveway. She, like the others, would be coming home from work soon and I knew for a fact that she was elderly and couldn't shovel her own driveway.

I looked down at my hands, which were red and freezing, and then back at her driveway. I had maybe two hours before she got home, and clearing the whole driveway in that amount of time was impossible.

I went inside.

And when I say "I went inside," I mean that I went inside to grab some mittens and warm my hands up for five minutes before heading back outside.

I picked up my shovel and walked across the street, narrowly avoiding a car and tripping into a ditch full of snow. This time when I shoveled, I didn't have the promise of twenty bucks keeping me going, as shallow as that may sound, so I hummed a tune under my breath. I didn't even know where I got it from, but it was catchy, so I kept humming.

Eventually the tune got old, and my back started to ache, and my face was numb as well as my hands, so I stopped and took a break. The driveway was only halfway shoveled and I only had half an hour, but I also didn't want to lose my hands, so I kept my hands in my armpits for five minutes. It may sound gross, but its one of the warmest places in your body.

Once I finished the driveway (actually, almost immediately after I finished), Mrs. Nancy herself showed up, although not in a car.

"Mrs. Nancy?" I asked, straightening my beanie. "What are you doing? Where's your car?"

Mrs. Nancy looked at me as if for the first time, although we had met twice before. I suspected she had dementia. "Oh, I lent it to my son for the week. I see you shoveled my driveway."

I rubbed my hands together in an attempt to avoid frostbite. "Uh, yeah. I noticed that you weren't home and I was expecting you to have your car, so I thought it would be helpful if somebody shoveled the snow away."

Mrs. Nancy nodded. "And I thank you very much. Here, let me get you out of the cold."

I shook my head. "No, I can't —"

"I'll make you some of my special homemade hot chocolate."

I cut myself off. "Okay." Call me whatever you want, but if there was food involved I was all in.

I followed Mrs. Nancy as she slowly made her way up the driveway, somehow managing not to slip, unlike me, who slipped every five seconds and nearly fell back into the ditch for the second time.

The inside of her house resembled something of a gingerbread house, although it was made of bricks and wood instead of candy, although there was plenty of that all over the place. A part of me wondered if she was some kind of disguised monster, but I didn't get a bad feeling in my gut that I normally do. I assumed that she was human, though I was still wary. The hunting knife at my belt was cold against my skin, but it would do in a pinch.

"I haven't made this in such an awfully long time," Mrs. Nancy said. "My son doesn't like it like he used to when he was your age."

"How old is your son?" I asked.

She blinked. "I...I don't remember."

I frowned in sympathy. "It's okay if you don't remember." It must have been terrible to not even be able to remember your son's age.

"Anyways," Mrs. Nancy said. "Thank you bet much for shoveling my driveway. You must have been freezing!"

I shrugged. "It wasn't that bad," I lied.

"Oh, nonsense. Oh, wait! I have just the thing!" Mrs. Nancy stepped away from the brewer and started hobbling off towards a different room, and I unplugged the machine before her house could burn down and followed her.

"Mrs. Nancy, where are you going?" I said.

She didn't say anything, but she did open a closet and pull out a brown leather jacket on a hangar.

I raised an eyebrow.

"This is for you," she said.

"Oh, no." I said. "I couldn't do tha—"

"Oh, please. It's the least I can do."

I frowned again. I was cold...and it looked really warm...

"Fine." I said. "But only because you say it's okay."

At Mrs. Nancy's urging, I shrugged the jacket around my shoulders, over my black hoodie. The inside was coated with some kind of fur, but it felt amazingly warm.

"Thank you so much for this," I said, turning to thank her, but she was gone.

And I was back in my own driveway, standing across from the one I had just shoveled.

 **Please review. I need it to fuel my ego.**


	17. THE NON-RELATIONSHIP

**...and I'm back. I tried to update faster to make up for the last chapter taking so long.**

 **Who's ready for Halloween? I'm not. My parents are making me hand out the candy this year. *sigh***

 **Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter.**

"That's really weird," Annabeth said. "You said you don't think she was a monster?"

I nodded and almost tripped over a book bag as we walked down the hallway with Thalia. "I normally have some kind of gut feeling when they're around. I didn't have one with her."

Thalia raised an eyebrow at Annabeth at the words "gut feeling," but I ignored them. All I wanted right then was food, and lucky for me, we were headed right for the cafeteria. Unfortunately, we were late. The period was already halfway over.

As we walked in, I only half heard Annabeth say that we needed to talk to Chiron again, because, much to my chagrin, Liam was staring at me.

 _I take it back. Not lucky for me._

"Do you have it?"

"Huh?" I said, turning to face Thalia.

She rolled her eyes. "Do you have the coat she gave you?"

"Yeah," I said. "It's in my locker."

"Good," Annabeth said. "We need to make sure it isn't poisoned."

"Poisoned?" I asked, only disturbed slightly. "How do you poison a jacket?"

"Ever heard of the story of Hercules?" Thalia said, setting her stuff down at our normal table. "He was poisoned when his wife or whoever covered the inside of his nemean lion pelt with centaur blood."

I frowned. "That sounds...pleasant."

"What are they talking about?" I heard Liam whisper to Percy.

"No idea," he whispered back. "Best to just stay out of it when it comes to these three."

I looked at the two other females at the lunch table, and we all rolled or eyes in unison.

Eventually we were all called up in the lunch line, and that's where I was cornered.

"So who hit you with a truck?" Liam asked me as we walked towards the lunch line.

"I'm fine." I said. I may have looked like I just rolled out of bed, and didn't get any sleep, and had nightmares about killing all of my friends, but I was fine. Really.

"Seriously, Al, you look like a mess," Liam said more seriously. He put his hand on my arm but I pulled out of his grasp.

"Just what every girl wants to hear." I said dryly as I picked up a tray. Why couldn't he just leave me alone? "And don't call me Al."

"I —that's not what...That's not what I meant!" He said.

"I'm fine, doofus." I said. _Just leave me alone._

Liam narrowed his eyes at me. "No, you're not."

I ignored him and grabbed a meatloaf. He followed me like a lost puppy back to the table, and the others stayed silent as he interrogated me.

"Seriously, talk to me, Red."

I didn't respond right away, but I cut into my food with such ferocity that I thought that I would cut right through the tray. "What do you want?" I said slowly, not trusting myself.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I want you to talk to me."

"No." My meatloaf continued to suffer the longer my silence went on. I didn't need his pity.

"Alex," He said, grabbing the plastic knife out of my hand quickly. "Your meatloaf is already dead."

I eyed the knife in his hand, contemplating whether or not I wanted to impale him with it. Finally I took my plastic fork and started chewing the meatloaf I had ravaged. It was obvious I wasn't going to talk right now, but Liam wasn't willing to give up that easily. I looked around at the others and found no reactions. Their faces were unreadable. Although, Grover bleated nervously under his breath, no doubt frightened by the hostility between Liam and I.

He sighed again and looked at me. I avoided his green-eyed gaze. "Alex."

"I said I don't want to talk."

"I don't believe you."

I shot him a withering glare that physically made him wince, and opened my mouth, but the bell rung in the middle of my sentence, interrupting me. Sometimes I loved that bell, and sometimes I hated it. Right now I had mixed reactions. Liam grabbed his bag and followed me out of the lunchroom.

"You gonna stop following me or what?" I asked, maintaining my brisk pace.

I heard him exhale sharply before grabbing my arm and pulling me into a corner. I struggled slightly but he managed to keep a firm grip on my arm. No way was he letting me get away from him this time. The moment his hand touched the skin of my arm, electricity shot up my limb, and I'm talking literally.

"Ow!" I said. "You shocked me!"

He ignored me, but he did look slightly sorry. Slightly.

"Alex," Liam said, looking me straight in the eyes. I didn't look away. "You can tell me anything, you know that right?"

 _Can I? Would you look at me the same if you knew where I came from?_

I relaxed, leaning against the wall. "Yeah." I said quietly, though I didn't want to admit it.

"So talk to me." Liam said. "I want to help."

I sighed. "I'm just sick of all the surprises in my life." I admitted.

"Surprises?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said. "My friend turns out to be a donkey-vampire-demon-assassin, my grades are plunging, I end up moving here, there's some freak prophecy about me, etcetera etcetera." I spoke with a tired voice, but it was slowly escalating into anger. "How much more can life throw at me? I'm only 15, for crying out loud!"

He ran a hand through his hair again. I wondered if it was some kind of nervous habit. "That's what friends are for, Alex. You don't have to do all of this by yourself. If you need help, we're here for you."

Something inside me deflated. "You mean it, don't you? Even after I push you away, you're still there. I...I, uh...I'm not used to that. My...uh, friends...back home wouldn't be like this. They would have given up a long time ago."

Translation: _Everyone in foster care hated me and wouldn't treat me like you are right now. Like I'm worth something more than a street brat._

He chuckled. "You should know by now, Alex, that we're not like normal people."

I felt my stomach constrict. I shouldn't be having this conversation with him. I shouldn't feel this way when I hear him laugh, or...or when I see him smile!

I forced myself to laugh. "I think I've gathered that by now."

A few moments passed.

"Why are we—"

"Staring at each other? I don't know..."

I coughed. "We should get to class."

Liam retracted his hand from off my arm. "Right. Class."

I shuffled off to my next class before anything else could be said.

 **x x x**

Beckendorf poked me when I got to Geometry class. "What was that about?"

I shrugged. "It was nothing."

He raised an eyebrow. "Nothing always means something."

I rolled my eyes. "You sound like my guardian."

Beckendorf straightened in his seat as a teacher entered — but it wasn't Ms. Rudenheifer. It was a substitute teacher.

"Where's Ms. Rudenheifer?" Someone said.

"She's taking a personal day." The sub said. He asked us what we were working on, but it was too late. The first spitball had been launched, and soon half the room was fiercely battling while the rest of us talked.

Well, Beckendorf and I talked. Percy and Liam talked, a safe distance away from us, for which I was grateful. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't fancy sweaty palms whenever Zeus' son was around.

"So," I said, kicking my feet up on my desk. "How're things between you and Selina?"

Beckendorf turned bright red. "Fine." I raised an eyebrow and he sagged in defeat. "I mean, I can actually form full sentences when she's around, so that's good, right?"

I laughed. "Yeah, I suppose. You should just ask her out already. I'm sure she'd say yes."

Beckendorf shook his head vigorously. "No. No way. She's one of the most popular kids in the school, and she could have any cute guy that she wanted. Why would she want me?"

I patted him on the shoulder. "Okay, maybe you're not the most..."

"Good looking?" He offered.

"Sure." I said. "Maybe you're not the most good looking guy in the school. But you've got one of the best personalities I've ever seen."

Beckendorf shrugged. "I don't know, I just..."

"Look, if you're not ready for a _date_ date, then just ask her out for coffee." I scratched my head. "It's the non-relationship drink of choice."

"Where'd you get that from? Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" **(I don't own that either)**

I shrugged. "Maybe. You just gotta get some confidence!"

I smacked him on the shoulder playfully, and then massaged my hand, because his shoulder was really solid. I guess that's one of the perks of being Hephaestus' son.

"All...Alright." Beckendorf said. "I'll do it."

I high-fived him. "That's the spirit. She's right over there, why don't you do it now?"

He paled. "I-I-I don't kn-know about that."

I sighed. "Beckendorf, if you don't do it now, you'll never do it."

He swallowed and stood. "All right. I'm gonna do it." He took one step forward, and looked back at me. I gave him a thumbs up and he smiled nervously before walking over to Selina, who was surrounded by a group of friends. I couldn't tell what was said, but I could see Selina nodding and smiling. I assumed that was a good sign. When Beckendorf walked back over, he was smiling broadly.

"Well?" I said. "How'd it go?"

"She said she didn't like coffee."

"Oh. Then why are you smiling?"

"Because she recommended we go to a movie instead."

I laughed. "There you go, Beckendorf! I told you, didn't I?"

He crossed his arms nervously. "But what do I actually do? In the movie theater, I mean."

I frowned. "Ah...I'm not really the expert on _that_ part. I've never really had much experience with that. Why don't you ask Percy, or Liam?" For some reason, I said Liam's name with something close to animosity, and I didn't know why. What was wrong with me?

Beckendorf nodded, and walked over to the pair that I had recommended, and just like that, I was alone.

If that wasn't the story of my life, I didn't know what was.

 **x x x**

I grabbed the leather coat out of my locker along with my ski cap and headed straight for Chiron's class after school. The school didn't put any heating in the hallway, so I was freezing, but I wasn't risking putting the jacket on again until I knew for sure that it wasn't poisoned. A part of me said that if it was poisoned, I would have died the first time I put it on, but the logical part of me said that I didn't know how it worked; therefore it could have been blocked by my black hoodie that I had been wearing.

When I walked into the classroom, he wasn't there, for which I was grateful. I couldn't handle any more of him today, especially after what happened earlier, in the hallway.

"Alex!" Chiron said. He was still in his wheelchair form. "You have the jacket?"

I nodded and tossed it to him. He caught it more gracefully than I would have, that's for sure. Chiron held it close to his nose and sniffed it, which I thought was odd, but he threw it back at me and said that it was clean.

"You can tell that just from smelling it?" I asked, shrugging the jacket on. It was cold in there too, so I zipped it up tight.

He nodded. "Centaur blood I would be able to smell."

"Oh." I said. Now I felt dumb. "I guess that makes sense."

"What I don't understand," Annabeth said as I sat on top of a desk, "Is why a random old lady would give Alex something like that?"

"Couldn't she have been nice and decided to give Alex something?" Grover asked. "Why does it always have to be monster related?"

"Because," Thalia said. "If it wasn't, I wouldn't be able to do this!"

Without warning, she picked up a steel sword that Chiron had used as an example earlier in class and hurled it at my chest.

In a futile attempt to save myself, I put my arm in front of myself, but it was too late. With a sound similar to glass shattering, the sword hit my jacket and shattered into pieces.

I blinked. "What?"

"It's as I thought," Chiron said. "A nemean lion's pelt. So it seems this Mrs. Nancy may have been trying to help you afterall."

"I don't understand."

"Gods sometimes disguise themselves as normal mortals, in order to help out demigods without being seen." Grover explained.

"So you think my neighbor is secretly a god?" I asked, confused.

"Well, no, but whoever they were they were probably impersonating your neighbor when she wasn't there." Annabeth said.

I massaged my temples. "Why does this all have to be so complicated?" _Why can't I just be a normal person? With two parents, instead of a dead father and some godly mother._

"It wouldn't be any fun if it was simple." Percy said.

I sighed again. Sighing seemed to be most of what I did these days. "Whatever. I gotta head home. Lawrence is taking Cooper to the vet for his checkup, so I have to walk. See you guys."

We said our goodbyes, and then I was left to walk home in the snow. I didn't mind snow or cold weather per say, but I did not enjoy the feeling of numbness in my extremities. That's what caused me to jog home; trying to get some feeling back in my legs by getting the blood flowing. I didn't notice the growing gut feeling in my stomach because I was so focused on getting home, where it was warm. I didn't notice the growling until it was right on top of me.

I had just opened the door to the house when suddenly — _WHAM!_ Something slammed into me from behind and forced me to the hardwood floor. Snow whirled around in the interior of the house as I struggled with an albino hellhound — perfect camouflage for this weather.

It was a good thing I had my nemean pelt-jacket-thing on, because when the hellhound tried to bury its claws in my chest, they chipped and shattered, causing the hound to whimper in pain. I tried to push it off of me to no avail. Nothing I did could get it off of me, and it was realizing the one body part that wasn't protected — my head. It opened its massive jaws and lunged forward, and—

 _BANG BANG!_

Two gunshots ripped through its body, knocking the albino hellhound off of me and onto the floor, where it collapsed into dust.

I gaped at my guardian.

"Celestial Bronze bullets," Lawrence said. "Knew it was a good idea to carry those."

 **And the plot thickens!**

 **Question: Does anyone actually read these or am I just eating my time?**

 **Please review, I promise I'm not trying to be annoying with these author's notes.**


	18. DAUGHTER OF WHAT?

**Oh, my gosh**. **I am so sorry that I forgot to update for a month or however long it was, but my teachers have been hitting me hard with homework, and now are holding the threat of exams over my head. I also, regrettably *winces*...lost interest for like 3 weeks. I'll try to fix that! Anyways, it's been a while since I've wrote a chapter for this story, so please let me know if some of this information doesn't track.**

Lawrence reloaded his gun while I was left on the floor with snow and monster dust all aver me, my mouth hanging open like an idiot.

"You...it...Lawr...What?"

Lawrence shut the door so that no more snow could enter the house. He offered a hand to help me get up, and I only took it after a fierce pain in my ankle made me. I think I may have sprained it. Lawrence helped me stand and then glanced out the window to see if there were anymore. Apparently, we were safe, because he helped me over to the couch and handed me some ambrosia. My sprain healed quite quickly as I searched for something to say. A part of me wondered where Cooper was before I remembered that he was at the vet. He would be furious when he got home and found out that I had been attacked by a dog —though because of the attacking or the dog part, I wasn't sure.

"Explain," I finally said, after my ankle felt better and I was able to form a sentence.

Lawrence sat down on the couch. "Child of Athena," He said simply.

My eye twitched.

"That's it?" I demanded. "That's all you have to say?" Gods, why did everyone in my life have big secrets like these?

"Yeah," he said. "Found out when I was 12, managed to survive until now. Hate spiders, though." He shivered.

I realized suddenly why there were hundreds (and I'm not exaggerating) of bottles of spider repellant in the basement. Annabeth had told me that Athena's kids didn't like spiders because their mother created the first one, Arachne, and ever since her children have been looking for revenge or something.

Lawrence shrugged, but I could tell he was hiding something. He wasn't a good lier. "What about you?"

I shrugged, imitating him. "I don't know yet."

"How long have you known?" He asked me. When did he start asking the questions?

"Uh, its December now, so...three months? Yeah, that sounds right."

Lawrence crossed his legs on the couch and looked at me intently, as if he were trying to decide something.

I decided to use his silence to ask him some questions. I mean, I knew some Demigods survived after college and high school and all that, but Lawrence was like, 40 years old. I'd never heard of a half-blood surviving that long.

I cocked my head at him. "Do you know Chiron?"

Lawrence's head perked up. "Chiron's here? In New York?"

I nodded. "Has he ever...not been in New York? Recently, I mean."

He seemed to consider his words carefully. "He used to be in Ohio. When I was there."

Something in my memory was ringing bells at me, but I couldn't remember exactly what it was. "You used to live in Ohio?"

Lawrence nodded. "I lived there about 16 years ago. I moved after I broke up with my...girlfriend. I moved here."

I raised an eyebrow. "You had a girlfriend?"

"Don't sound so surprised! Things didn't go so well, after...well, after I found out she was pregnant."

Something in my head clicked.

Ohio. Lawrence had a kid in Ohio. I was born in Ohio. Lawrence was a demigod. He moved to New York.

And then I was running. Running out the door, into the snow, tripping over sleet, and running into Central Park. Running to climb up my tree. Shivering as I thought four words:

 _Lawrence is my father._

It was the only thing that made sense. Lawrence was in Ohio about 16 years ago; he was raised there. He would have fathered me right before he left, and since he was a demigod he might have been more likely to attract attention from a goddess. He probably freaked when he learned he had gotten a goddess pregnant, and then ran away to New York. As a coincidence, or maybe the Fates toying with us, he found me three months ago, became my guardian, and saved me from a hellhound.

I slammed my first against the frozen trunk that I sat on. It wasn't _fair_!

I know I should be happy. My father is alive, after all. But for some reason it was easier for me to picture him dead than as some cop who's terrified of spiders. It's not to say that I didn't like Lawrence; I just couldn't picture him as my father.

He had to have known. He was a detective; he probably tested my DNA from the McDonald's wrappers and cup that he had given me when we first met.

Then again, I could be wrong. I could be overreacting, reading too much into things. Surely if he were my father I would have noticed before now.

But no. I knew my gut, and my gut was telling me that I was right.

Ugh! I was so sick of this! All I wanted at that moment was for everything to go back to normal. I wished that I had never found out that I was a demigod, and that all my friendships were back to the way they were, instead of my guardian turning out to be my father and having fuzzy feelings for one of my best friends. The others knew something about who I was, or they suspected it. But was I told about any of this? No!

"Alex?" It was Lawrence. "Alex, I'm sorry. I should have told you before!"

I looked down from my tree to find him running around Central Park like a chicken with its head cut off. It was quite amusing, actually. I would have laughed if I were in the mood.

When he reached the base of the tree, as I suspected he would, he saw the pyramid of rocks and looked up, exactly where I saw on my tree branch.

"Go away." I said.

Lawrence shook his head. "No."

I sighed and watched my breath fade on the cold air. "Should have known better."

"Listen, I'm sorry. I know I should have told you, but I was scared. I...I knew that your mother didn't want you knowing who you were and who I was unless it was absolutely necessary."

"So that's why you didn't tell me?" I demanded. "That's why you let me grow up in the Foster system where nobody wanted me and the caretaker beat us? Because dear old _Mom_ told you not to?!"

"It was for your protection!"

"Was it? Why didn't she tell me herself? In fact, why is _everybody_ keeping things from me? It's like trying to play poker without knowing what my cards are!"

Lawrence was silent for a good thirty seconds after that, which gave me some time to gather my senses instead of just spitting fireballs like an angry dragon. Maybe I was being too harsh. But I was just so angry, and I couldn't form words without a little bite in them. "Do you know you my mother is?"

"Of course I know you your mother is!" Lawrence snapped.

"Then who is she?"

He opened his mouth and then shut it several times before ordering me to get out of the tree. I considered disobeying him for a moment before I realized that I was, in fact, freezing, and I couldn't feel anything below my torso because of how frozen the trunk I was sitting on was. It was quite uncomfortable.

So I did as he said and climbed back down the tree as fast as I could without falling down on top of Lawrence. "Are you going to tell me now?" I asked.

"Where did you say Chiron set up shop?" Lawrence asked me.

"The school. Why?"

"Because we are going to get some answers."

 **x x x**

It was dark by the time we managed to locate Chiron in the halls of Goode High. He wasn't in his class room, where he normally was, and he wasn't in any of the other classrooms, but we eventually found him in the gym watching Percy and Liam jump hoops (literally). Upon further inspection, it was discovered that Annabeth and Thalia were studying in the corner of the room to the sounds of grunts and the smell of sweat. Perfect study spot, guys.

"Ah, Alex, you've — who's this?" His tone went from mentoral to strict faster than I could say "Hi."

"You don't recognize me, you old stallion?" Lawrence said with a smile.

"Wha — Lawrence?" Chiron said. Instantly all other activity in the room ceased. Liam, Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia all gave me questioning looks, but the only response I had for them was wide eyes and a shrug. I had no idea what was going on, and I knew more than they did.

"Wait." Percy said. "You know Alex's guardian?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," I sighed.

"But how are you here?" Chiron asked Lawrence, ignoring anything else that was said.

"I moved here six years ago, after... well, that's actually what we wanted to talk to you about."

The others gathered around Lawrence and I as we explained the course of events that had taken place that day. My friends listened in complete surprise, while Chiron kept a poker face for the entire story. When Lawrence finished, Chiron asked the same question that led us here:

"Who is her mother?"

There it was. The question that had been secretly torturing me for months, ever since I found out what I was. Instantly, it was like all the air was sucked out of the room. Lawrence. Use have been feeling the pressure, because he glanced around the room nervously before whispering something inaudible in Chiron's ear.

"It is as I suspected," Chiron stated, even though his eyes were bugging out of his head.

"So?" Thalia said. "Who is it?"

Chiron sure took his time in telling all of us, that was for sure. Instead of Ben,Inc right out and saying it, he looked at each of us individually, as if he were assessing his options, and then gathered all of my friends, including Lawrence and excluding myself, in the far corner of the gym and whispered furiously. I was only able to pick out a few words.

" _Her_?" I heard Liam exclaim sharply, in a hoarse voice. The others scorned him and then finished their whispering in a manner that annoyed me thoroughly.

"Who the hell is it?" I yelled at them after a few more seconds of this. I didn't understand why none of them could just tell me!

The others broke us their little football huddle of secrets and gathered around me. Liam looked paler than I had ever seen him, and so did the others.

"Alex..." Liam started, using that voice that told me I needed to be careful. Gods, how I hate that voice.

Chiron looked at the others, and then all of a sudden they are all bowing, and I'm the only one standing. Even Lawrence and Chiron got down on one knee. Then Chiron cleared his threat and said these words in a loud, clear voice:

"Artemis. Huntress, Moonbringer, Eternal Maiden. Hail, Alexandra Clayton, Daughter of the Eternal Huntress."


	19. NOPE

**Ok, so I wrote this really fast and with my iPad, so there might be some typos in here. I tried to update faster because I realize I might be writing more cliffhangers and I don't want to torture any of you (unless you go to my school).**

 **Enjoy!**

"No." I said. "No, no, no! That's not possible!"

"Oh, its possible," I heard Liam mutter. I ignored him.

"Artemis is the goddess of virginity!" I exclaimed. "This...shouldn't be..."

"I don't know how it's possible," Lawrence said. "All I know is that it is."

I started pacing. Often my brain couldn't start move forward unless my legs were too. "You have to be lying."

"We're not." Chiron said. "In fact, I can prove it to you. Come with me," he said, assuming his wheelchair form and wheeling out the door.

I didn't have much of a choice but to follow, but that didn't stop me from asking questions along the way as our little posse followed him out of the school. I had forgotten how dark it was outside, but I still could see Chiron fine. "Chi— I mean, Mr. Brunner," I said, since we were in a public place and some of the people roaming MG the streets were already giving us weird looks, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Was all he said.

I groaned in frustration. I looked at some of the others, namely Liam, since he was almost as distraught as I was, but none of them said anything to me. I honestly was not surprised. I didn't even bat an eyelash.

And so I shut my mouth, knowing better than to talk back to Chiron, and pulled my jacket tighter around myself. I was freezing.

Eventually, after at least 10 minutes of walking, Chiron led us to one of those places where there were wild animals for people to hunt legally. I know this because there was a giant sign that said LHATR'S NUDEIRNG, which I translated as HUNTER'S LANDING. It was closed at the moment, but that didn't stop Chiron from swinging the gate open and gesturing for us to enter.

I hesitated. The last thing I needed was to add another count of breaking and entering or larceny on my record, but I trusted Chiron, and Lawrence was a police officer, so I figured I was safe.

It was darker in there because the pine trees that were hanging over us blocked out a decent portion of the street lights, but I managed, stepping over twigs and branches so easily it was as if I were born there. In fact, I dodged leaves and twigs so easily that I made no noise at all, and Chiron (now in his horse form) actually had to look back a couple times just to make sure that I was following, which I was. Some of the others had trouble making their way through the forest without incident, like Percy and Thalia. They tripped over branches and logs as if they were clowns at a circus. It really wasn't that hard to do, guys.

Eventually Chiron stopped us at a random point in the middle of the forest, near a stream. The only reason I knew that last part was because I could hear it nearby. When we were all gathered around Chiron, he looked at me, and I quickly lost my patience once again.

"Why are we here?" I demanded. "None of you have answered any of my actual questions, and it's giving me a headache."

"Shh, Alex." Chiron told me. "Listen. Your headache may not be what you think."

I opened my mouth to protest, but then shut it firmly. Fine. I would listen, and then they would answer my questions, right? Right?

I breathed out and opened my ears. So far, the only thing I could hear was the babbling of the stream, a couple animals, the wind, and —

"Ah!" I exclaimed, when the small headache that I'd had ever since we'd arrived at the site crescendoed into a white hot pain that forced me to my knees.

" _Who are they?"_

 _"What are they doing here?"_

 _"The horse is back!"_

It took me a few moments to realize that my friends were not the ones speaking. In fact, I couldn't hear their shouts of concern over the growing number of voices, and my headache wasn't getting any better. Only when Chiron leaned down and said this to me was I able to control what was happening to me.

" _Focus_."

I, not having any other solution, focused not on all of the voices, but on a single one that seemed louder than the others.

" _It's her! The Daughter of the Huntress!_ "

Instantly my headache ceased and I was able to get back to my feet and think. The voice didn't belong to a person. It belonged to a Blue Jay that was watching us curiously. When I tilted my head at it and asked it what it was doing, it responded by flying over and landing on my shoulder. Then it said,

" _You are the one we were told to wait for._ "

" _You were waiting for me?_ " I asked.

" _Yes. The Moon told us to wait for you._ "

The moon? Oh, crap.

"Darn it Chiron, you were right." I said. "Why are you always right?"

The centaur shrugged. "Live for a few thousand years, and you learn things."

I glanced the sky, where a full moon was shining. Huh. I could have sworn there wasn't one up before. It's almost as if —

Suddenly a chorus of animals were hissing in my ear. " _The betrayer!_ "

"What?" I said aloud. The others were staring at me. "It's..." I gestured at the trees, where a flock of birds were waiting. "It's them."

"You can hear them?" Lawrence asked.

I nodded. "I can hear Cooper, too. But why can't I hear any of the animals in the city?"

"Those animals are practically domesticated," Chiron said, with distaste. "Being who you are, you can only hear more wild animals. There are exceptions, as with your pet, but that is usually how it goes."

"Huh." Lawrence and I said simultaneously.

I turned to the others. "What do you guys — where's Liam?"

Annabeth and the others glanced around. "He was just here." Annabeth insisted.

" _The creek_!" The Blue Jay on my shoulder informed me. " _The betrayer defiles the creek!_ "

Without waiting to ask the others, I walked over to the creek, leaving the, behind. It wasn't that hard to find Liam, since he was shining a flash light at the small waterfall formed by the stream. In his hand he held a gold coin. He was trying to Iris Message someone. But who?

Without warning Liam threw the gold coin into the mist. "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Zeus on Mount Olympus."

Trusting my gut rather than my head, I hid behind a tree and watched.

A fuzzy image formed over the creek and the face of a man with a well-trimmed beard, which was a marbled grey and black, like a storm cloud. He was wearing a blue pin-striped suit and had a proud face along with rainy gray eyes. This was Zeus, Lord of the Sky.

"Father," Liam said.

"I told you not to contact me until the job was finished. Do you need another reminder of the consequences if you fail me?" Zeus bellowed.

Liam visibly flinched. "N-no, father. I came to ask if there was any other alternative."

Zeus scoffed, and his eyes flashed a dangerous blue, like lightning. "Another alternative? Has my son gone soft?" Liam stayed silent and clenched his jaw. "No? Then what reason could you possibly have to disobey me?"

"She's innocent, father!"

"I don't care! An example needs to be made, and since the others are too cowardly, you will have to be the one to do it!"

"But —"

"I have told you before. Bring me the head of the Daughter of Artemis!"

I accidentally gasped and Liam instantly swiped his hand through the image, severing the connection. He spun around and looked right at me. Then his eyes widened in fear. "How much of that did you hear?"

I couldn't think. I couldn't...I couldn't believe what I had just heard!

"You...you lied to me!" I shouted, stepping forward from behind the tree. "Gods, Liam. I trusted you!"

"Alex, it's not what you think!"

" _Really_?" I spat. "Then what is it? Because it sounds an awful lot like you betrayed me!"

Liam opened his mouth and then shut it. Then he said, "I didn't...know it was you."

Something inside of me snapped. "You didn't know it was me." I said, my voice eerily steady. "Let me ask you a question, Liam. If it wasn't me, or if you knew who I was the moment you met me, would you do it? What your father asked?"

He didn't say anything for a very long time. "...I don't know, Al. I just don't know."

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT!" I screamed at him. "YOU WERE GOING TO KILL ME! I TRUSTED YOU!"

The roaring of blood in my ears didn't let me hear any other of the pathetic excuses that he tried to make. That all-too-familiar fire within me roared and licked at my insides, suspiciously close to where my heart was. With a yell that rallied the animals listening, the birds and the Blue Jay on my shoulder towards him at high speeds, enveloping him in a whirlwind of beaks and feathers and...and—

Nothing would ever be the same.

 **Mu-ha-ha. I feel evil after this chapter. This might have been predictable, but I can still hear some of you screaming. Heh heh heh.**

 **Please Review!**


	20. I AM WISHED A MERRY DEATHMAS

**Sup, guys! Anyone excited for Christmas? I was originally going to post this tomorrow, on Christmas Day, but I decided to update today, on Christmas Eve. I figure tomorrow we'll all be too busy, so here is the new chapter. This is an idea I've wanted to write for a while, so I'm happy I finally got the chance. If you see anything wrong, hit me up with those reviews if you have a chance.**

 _Dead stars shine_

 _Light up the sky_

 _I'm all out of breath_

 _My walls are closing in_

I snapped awake. The dream I'd been having faded until it was nothing more than a distant memory, but the music didn't stop.

"I can feel you falling away," my radio sang. "No longer the lost, No longer the same. And I can —"

I would have let it finish except for the fact that I was very upset by the song and reacted by throwing the radio against the wall, where it broke into several pieces.

I laid back down on my bed and groaned. I was awake for two seconds and already I was in a bad mood. That can stand to tell you how bad my week has gone.

On Monday, Liam didn't show up to school, but the others made me explain in great detail what had happened, since they had all heard me screaming, but both Liam and I were too upset to elaborate on what happened. Explaining it was like living it all over again, and I didn't know what to do.

On Tuesday, Liam showed up to school with his shirt wrinkled, his hair uncombed and with bedhead, and red eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept a wink, and he chose the seat at the table that was as far away from me as possible. I could hear some of the others quietly interrogating him, namely Thalia. I had found it hard to believe that she didn't know why Liam was at the school in the first place, but she convinced me that she had no idea. She was almost as mad as I was when she found out. Almost.

On Wednesday, Liam looked the same as the day before, but refused to talk to anyone. That suited me just fine because I didn't even grant him the satisfaction of eye contact. I pretended like he wasn't there, and it took every ounce of will that I had to keep myself from screaming at him and (possibly) strangling him. He betrayed me. He betrayed all of us. He deserved it.

And on Thursday, Liam finally looked normal. His shirt was unwrinkled, his hair combed, his eyes a little less sleep deprived. He still sat as far away from I as possible, and the Lunch table was completely silent. I could have cut the tension with my hunting knife.

Finally, something was said.

"I'm sorry," Liam muttered. I didn't quite hear him, so he repeated it, louder. "I'm sorry."

I was so inundated with emotions —anger, hate, remorse, regret — that I didn't say anything and stared at my grilled cheese sandwich, as if that could make things ok between us. And I wanted that to happen. I did. I just didn't know if I could trust him anymore.

Then on Friday, we didn't have school because of winter break, and today was Sunday, so that meant today was...

"Alex!" Lawrence called up to me from downstairs. "Wake up! It's Christmas!"

It was Christmas! My first, real, Christmas. In excitement, forgetting my bad mood and my troubles temporarily, I threw off my covers and jumped out of bed. I grabbed my black jacket at put in on over my pajamas and then ran downstairs, where Lawrence was waiting with a plate full of bacon and Sunny-Side-Up eggs.

"Ah, my favorite!" I said. "How'd you know?"

Lawrence shrugged. I hadn't gotten up the nerve to call him "dad" yet. The awkwardness was real. I thanked him and then silently ate my breakfast, as he silently made his own.

 **x x x**

For some reason, Lawrence had this crazy rule where you couldn't open your presents until after dinner. I knew he was keeping a close eye on me, because every single time I so much as breathed on the Christmas tree, he would tell me to stay away. So there I was, at about 1:00 in the afternoon, plotting a way to get to the presents, when I heard the doorbell ring.

"It's probably Christmas Carolers," Lawrence called from the kitchen. He was actually a good cook, when he wanted to be, and he was making lamb. My mouth was already watering. "My hands are full here. Er...tell them thanks, but no thanks."

"Sure thing." I muttered, getting up from the couch and approaching the door. From what I could see through the snowed in windows, there sure were a lot of carolers. I turned the door handle. I wonder what —

"Merry Christmas!" Thalia, Annabeth, Percy, Beckendorf, and Grover said.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, surprised. It was 1:30 in the afternoon and snowing harder than I had ever seen, not to mention it was Christmas, but yet here they all were, dressed in their snow coats and ski caps, all carrying presents. "What are you all doing here?"

"Can we come in first?" Thalia asked. "I'm freezing my butt off out here."

I laughed. "Sure. Come in." I stepped aside to usher them in, and they entered one by one. First Thalia, then Annabeth, Percy, Beckendorf, Grover, and then —

Liam coughed. "Er...hi."

I was so shocked that I didn't know what to say. I didn't...I mean I wasn't...

"C-c-c-can I come in?" He asked, shifting nervously. Whether he was stuttering from nervousness or the cold, I couldn't tell.

I was very tempted to shut the door in his face. Hard. But I didn't. Against my better instincts, I stepped out of the way to let him in. And don't ask me why, because I really don't know.

The others were busy peeling off their winter-wear, so I went over to Lawrence and told him what was happening.

His eyes bulged out of their sockets. "That means I have to make more food!" He turned back to the oven and started adding spices and butter so fast I got dizzy watching him, so I went to the living room and watched the lights on the Christmas tree until everyone was seated.

"Explain." I said. "Now."

"Well, Alex..." Annabeth started. She looked rather uncomfortable on the other couch in the room, especially since she and Percy were squished together so that everyone could fit on the couch. "We thought you might need some cheering up."

"And some explanations," Thalia added.

"What?" I said, my voice unusually high. "I'm fine."

"Alex —" Annabeth started.

"I said I'm fine."

"Oh, cut the crap, Alex." Beckendorf said. "We all know you too well. You're not 'fine'."

Gods, I regret letting them in. Still, they're right. I did break my alarm clock this morning.

"Fine!" I said, throwing my hands into the air. "I'm not fine. I found out that one of my best friends might have been trying to kill me. Do you expect me to be 'fine'?"

"That's just the thing, Alex!" Thalia said. "Liam wasn't trying to kill you!"

I scoffed. "Please. Tell that to his father."

Liam coughed and stood from the couch. It really wasn't that much of a difference because he was pretty much falling off anyways. "I was never going to kill you. I was at the school trying to protect you...not kill you."

"That's not what you told Zeus."

"Have you met my father? He's used to being obeyed. If I had told him that I planned to disobey him, he would have killed me."

I started pacing angrily. "It's not just the fact that you may or may not have been trying to kill me! You broke my trust, Liam. I trusted you, and I don't say that lightly."

"I know Alex. Gods, I know!" Liam said. He looked almost as distressed as I felt. He started running his hands through his hair, making it stick straight up like it always does when he does that. "It's just —"

 _CRASH!_

Suddenly the sound of a window breaking reached my ears and I was shoved to the ground by someone I couldn't see. Glass shards showered over me as Liam shielded me from all the said glass that poured into the living room.

When the room finally settled down, Liam quickly stumbled off of me and to his feet, his face contorted in pain. He was covered in scratches from the glass and his shirt was torn in places. He offered me a hand up, and I accepted it. I was unscathed, and so was everyone else, because they had managed to duck down in time. But Liam had chosen to save me from a pitch black arrow that had crashed through the window and become lodged in the wall where my head used to be.

Luckily it was a small window, so we were able to board it up quickly enough so that the room didn't get too cold.

I tossed Liam the box of bandaids. "What was that?"

"No idea," he said. "And believe me, I didn't plan for any of this." He winced as he pulled out a shard of glass from his shoulder.

It occurred to me that the arrow could have hit him, and more than a shard of glass could be stuck in his shoulder, and the thought immediately chilled me...and then confused me. Wasn't I mad at him? Well, he did save my life.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as I dug the arrow out of the wall. It was clearly not a normal arrow. It was entirely black, even the arrow head. The celestial bronze had been painted black.

"Is everyone okay?" Lawrence asked, running into the living room.

"We're fine." I said. "But we may have a problem."

 **x x x**

"Someone is trying to _kill_ you?" Lawrence demanded.

I shrugged. "What's new?"

"I didn't think that they would come after you here." Annabeth said. "I mean, we're 7 powerful demigods and a satyr. Why would they attack?"

Grover tried to say something, but it was hard to understand through all of his nervous bleating. I think he said something along the lines of "Where are the aluminum cans?"

"Well, maybe they didn't know you all were here," Lawrence said. "You did come last minute."

"Yeah!" I agreed. "And, since there are a lot of us, we can fight."

"That might not be a good idea," Annabeth advised. "We don't know how many of them there are."

"Who cares?" Percy asked. "They attacked our friend."

"Except we don't know where they are and they almost killed her already." Liam pointed out.

"I thought you wanted to protect her!" Percy asked.

Now, I knew that their godly parents didn't exactly get along, but I didn't think that would translate over to them because I had never actually seen them fight each other. But Annabeth had told me a while ago that the sons of the Big Three didn't usually get along, and the rest of the group had been basically holding their breath for a fight to break out.

"Obviously I wanted to protect her, otherwise I wouldn't be here!" Liam said, pointing a finger in Percy's face.

"Cut it out!" I shouted, getting between the two. "Fighting each other won't do any of us good right now. We need to figure out who exactly we're up against, otherwise we're just taking shots in the dark."

"Good idea," Thalia said.

"Grover," Annabeth said, taking the black arrow from me. "Is there anyway you could smell them on this arrow?"

Grover stopped his chewing on a Mountain Dew can and looked at the arrow. "Maybe." He said. "But I can't smell them from in here."

...and that's how I found myself standing in the freezing cold, dressed in my nemean lion's jacket, with my bow and arrow, while Grover sniffed the arrow. The others were shivering in the cold (save for Lawrence, who was still making food, for some reason), but I was shivering for another reason. I didn't like being exposed outside like this, and I knew that the assassins were somewhere nearby, if they truly wanted me dead.

"So?" Beckendorf asked. "Can you smell them?"

Grover hesitated, still sniffing the thing, and then the air, and then he started off towards the direction of the broken window. When he arrived, he sniffed at the ground a few yards away, and then started off towards the back of the house. I mean, I knew Lawrence's house was big, but I never realized just how big. We were all numb from the cold by the time Grover reached somewhere we couldn't go — the chimney.

"What is it?" Percy asked. "Why did we stop?"

Grover sniffed the air a few more times, and then sighed. "They went up there."

I glanced up at the chimney, which was at least 2 stories high. "All the way up there? How?"

Liam and Thalia shuffled uncomfortably.

"Some offspring of Zeus can...er, fly." Thalia said, her face pale.

"Wha— fly?" I said, shocked. "Can you do that?"

"She can't, but I can." Liam said. He looked at Grover. "Want to go for a ride?"

"No, not re—ah!" Grover said as Liam grabbed the back of his shirt and lifted himself off of the ground, flying up towards the chimney.

"Oh my Gods." I muttered, staring up at the chimney as they disappeared from sight over the roof of the house.

"You know he felt terrible after you and he had that falling out, right?" Thalia said. "While he's not here."

I froze, and then turned to stare at them. " _He_ felt bad?"

"You really do need to forgive him," Beckendorf said. "You're much better with him than without."

"Yeah, well, I was an orphan for 15 years. We tend to hold on to things like this." I said.

 _Idiot! He saved your life, and this is how you repay him? With distrust and anger?_

Yeah, after he was plotting to kill me!

" _You heard him and the others say that he never planned to kill you. You need to forgive._ " It was Cooper. He must have finally woken up from that nap. If there was one thing I knew about that dog, it's that when he naps, he naps _hard_. No sooner had he thought entered my head did the pup come bounding out of the house, his tongue sticking out to catch the snowflakes that were falling. He ran up and jumped on my thighs, as a greeting.

"Hey, Cooper." I said aloud.

"For real. When are you going to make up and make out?" Thalia said.

"What!" I exclaimed. Before I could demand what she meant, the object of my anger and embarrassment flew back down from the roof with Grover, both pale and covered in soot.

"He must have gone down the chimney," Grover said. "So they're —"

"In the house." I finished. "Skatá!" Before the others could tell me not to, I dashed inside the house, thinking not of myself, but of Lawrence. What if he were caught unawares? I would never forgive myself.

I burst into the house a bit more dramatically than I would have liked, and Lawrence, still at the stove, looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you ok?" I asked him.

"Am I ok? Are you ok? You're the one who came busting into the house. And close the door, you're letting in all the cold air."

The others had just made it back into the house by the time I closed the door.

"Did you find him?" Liam asked. Not only was he covered in cuts and soot, but now he had snow all over him too.

"No." I said.

"I can smell him," Grover said. "He's somewhere in here. I don't know where, though."

"Split up," Annabeth said. "And give a shout if you find him."

I saluted sarcastically and went upstairs, while the others searched downstairs. Was that a poor decision, cutting myself off from the rest of the group? Possibly. Did I care? No.

I checked my bedroom first. If someone really was trying to kill me (on Christmas Day, no less), then my bedroom would be the first place they would check. But when I arrived, nothing seemed to be out of place. My closet, my clothes, my school bag, my desk. Nothing seemed to be out of order.

Except for one thing.

I crouched down near the shattered remains of my alarm clock radio. I had been sure that the pieces were closer to the wall than they were now. I looked closer. Bingo. On one of the shards of the display, there was a red discoloring. Somebody had cut their foot or hand here, and it wasn't me.

I straightened and looked around. Nothing else was out of place, so this person was good. Very good. But I was better.

I activated my watch so that I had a weapon and then cautiously searched the hallway. Nothing. Then I searched Lawrence's room. Still nothing.

I felt that tugging feeling in my gut grow in a steady crescendo. Whoever they were, they were definitely up on the second floor with me. I walked back into the hallway and peered into the guest bedroom. The growing uneasiness in my stomach grew. I walked in slowly, but when I looked around I found nothing. Does that mean my gut was wrong? I searched every room in the upstairs section of the house, and still nothing. Huh. Maybe I should —

 _WHAM!_

Something hard slammed into me from behind, and I recognized the hard wood as the small desk that I kept in my bedroom. How...?

I slammed into the floor before I could finish processing what was happening, and just barely managed to roll out from under my desk before it could crush me completely. A figure dressed all in black, although clearly male, stood framed by the light in the hallway. I shot an arrow at him before he could get too far but he moved at just the right time and the arrow just barely nicked his chin. I might as well have given him a shave. With a growl, I tackled the figure into the hallway, where we slammed into the wall. We bounced off harmlessly and both jumped to our feet in time to circle each other.

"Who are you?" I demanded. "And why does everyone want me dead?"

The man didn't respond, but instead drew a knife from his belt and flicked it at my head. I barely managed to dodge in time, but it did leave a big cut on my left cheek. I guess now we were even. I shot three more arrows in rapid succession at him and only succeeded in forming holes in the wall behind the assassin as he avoided all of them.

I growled in frustration. How was I supposed to beat this guy?

Suddenly the masked man dove forward, knocking me backwards and causing my head to slam against the wall, hard. My vision started to swim and I couldn't concentrate as well as I should have at the moment.

I watched, my vision turning double, as the assassin drew out another one of his bronze knives and raised it over my chest in a sacrificial motion. I tried struggling, but I was pinned down by the man's knees. Chiron had even taught me this move!

"And you thought you could make it out alive." The man said, his voice gruff. Surprisingly, he sounded younger than I thought he would be. "How naive you are."

I spit in his face.

"Ugh!" The man cried. "You little —"

 _CRASH!_

Something big and powerful slammed into the assassin from the side, slamming him against the wall. Liam took the man by his black shirt and slammed him against the floor. His green eyes burned with an angry fire that I had never in my life seen on anyone before.

"Leave." Liam punched the man across the face. "Her." He punched the assassin again, harder. "Alone!" Liam punched the man so hard in the nose that I heard bones crack.

I scrambled to my feet. "Liam!" He was still punching the man in black. "Liam, stop! He's had enough!"

Liam pulled his fist back one more time, but then he stopped himself. He stumbled off of the now unconscious man, looking with horror at his hands. I made sure that the assassin in black was still breathing before standing and leaning against the wall in a sudden bout of dizziness.

"Are you ok?" Liam immediately asked me.

"Are _you_ ok?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow at the crimson stain of blood on his hands.

He looked at his hands with guilt again, and then back at me, an unrecognizable emotion in his eyes, where anger was just a moment ago. "Alex, I—"

"Is everything okay?" Lawrence asked, bounding up the stairs like a rabbit on fire. Almost immediately he took in the scene: the unconscious assassin on the floor, the blood on Liam's hands, and the cut on my face, and then his jaw tightened.

"Let's get you guys fixed up," Lawrence said. "I'll get the handcuffs."

 **x x x**

"Ow!" Liam exclaimed, as I dabbed at his split knuckles with rubbing alcohol.

"Be quiet," I chastised. "You'll wake the jerk face."

And of course I was referencing to the unconscious assassin who was snoring with his right hand chained to the shower curtain. Liam and I were currently sitting in the upstairs bathroom, "fixing ourselves up," as Lawrence put it. I had already applied a hasty bandage to my face, but I had yet to bandage the large bump on my head that was currently giving me one hell of a headache.

"It's not like he's much of a danger now." Liam said.

"Not after you punched him so hard." I said, and then immediately wished that I didn't. Liam's jaw clenched and he averted his eyes to the floor, staring at a stain in the linoleum.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I shouldn't have said that."

"No, you're right." He looked up at me suddenly, catching me off guard. "I shouldn't have lost control like that."

"Why did you?" I asked before I could stop myself. But the truth was, I needed to know. He had saved my life twice in one day, right after being accused of trying to take it. If that wasn't confusing, I didn't know what was.

He looked at the stain in the floor again. "I...uh, I..." He swallowed, and for some reason I found myself watching the pulse at the base of his neck grow faster and faster. "Can I ask you a question, first?"

"You just did." I said.

"Well, yeah. But another question."

"What is it?"

For the second time in as many minutes he took me by surprise by staring me in the eyes when I was least expecting it. "Do you trust me?"

The question took me even more by surprise. "Do I...trust you?"

"Do you trust me?" His eyes were strangely intense, like a green fire.

It took me a few moments before I decided on an answer. The safe answer. "I don't know."

His gaze flicked away again. It was very annoying. "Is it because of what happened?"

"Yes."

I was watching his face very closely, for reasons unknown to me, so I saw, just for a moment, when his face contorted in pain, but not physical, since the tending of our wounds had been forgotten for quite some time. No, this was emotional pain, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why this affected me so.

I was the one to look away this time. "Liam..."

"Will I ever be able to earn it back? Can you ever forgive me?" His voice caught in several places.

Can I ever forgive him? Gods, I sure wanted to. Ever since what had happened, there had been this giant pit in my stomach, like someone had hollowed it out with an ice cream scoop. On the one hand, he used to be my best friend, one of the people that I trusted most in the world. After everything that's happened to me in my life, I couldn't say that I trusted a lot of people that much. I don't even know when I started trusting him will all of my troubles. When did it happen?

I swallowed. It was after the incident with the empousa, when we had been locked in the closet together. He opened up, and I realized suddenly that I had opened up as well. Who was this boy, that he could suddenly just disarm me of all my defenses?

On the other hand, look at our parents. His father wants me dead. D-E-A-D, dead! And if the situation were reversed, I'm sure my mother, though I had never met her, would want the Son of Zeus dead as well. What is it with our parents? What started this war?

I waited for a very long time before responding.

"Yes."

The one syllable word rang around the bathroom with a weight that I did not intend.

"Really?" Liam said, his voice catching once again, but with excitement. "I get another chance?"

I bit my lip. "You need to understand that I don't...I'm not good at giving second chances."

"I know." I looked back at him. He was grinning like an idiot and it made my stomach twist in a way that wasn't entirely uncomfortable. "I'll do my best."

He stayed grinning like that at me until I cleared my throat and went back to the bandages that had laid forgotten in my hands. "We need to finish wrapping your hands."

Liam coughed as well and then sat on the toilet. "Yeah. And please, no more rubbing alcohol."

I rolled my eyes. "No promises." I grabbed some of the scissors and cut out a strip of gauze wrap that would cover his split knuckles nicely. I turned back to him. "Give me your hands."

Liam obliged. His hands were not a pretty sight. He had started to form bruises as well along his knuckles. It made his fists look a lot worse than they were, but they were still nothing compared to the face of the man he had beaten.

The assassin's face was beaten and bloody, and it looked like he had gone twelve hours with a block of cement. His face and nose was so swollen that I could barely make out his features. The man could have been Lawrence and I still wouldn't have recognized him, with all that bruising and swelling.

Reluctantly, I grabbed Liam's right hand in mine and started to wrap the wound with gauze until I ran out, and then I tied it off in a way where it wouldn't come loose.

"Ow!" He cried again. "Are you trying to cut off circulation to my hand?"

I scoffed and looked up. "I —"

Then I stopped. Now that he was sitting, we were the same height, because I was hunched over just slightly. And our faces were very, very close.

I didn't know what to do. I had never been in this kind of situation before. Give me the streets of New York, monsters, assassins, and I can handle them. But boys? That was so not my area of expertise.

So you can guess (correctly) that when Liam's smile faded slightly to a more serious expression and he started to lean in, I didn't know what to do. I was dumbfounded. I had never been dumbfounded in my life!

I held my breath. He was going to kiss me. I ought to say something, back away, tell him to stop. But I didn't. Instead I wondered what it might feel like to be kissed by a Son of Zeus. Turn my head just a little, and I would find out. The air hummed, full of static, and I found my eyelids slowly closing.

A knock on the door, and we jumped guiltily apart. "Are you guys done patching yourselves up?" It was Percy. "Lawrence says dinner is ready."

I stood faster than I should have. "We'll...uh, we'll be right there!"

I stumbled away from Liam, my head swimming, and not just with the bump to my head. I left the bathroom without another word to him, leaving his bandages unfinished.

When I got out of the bathroom, my troubles were almost forgotten for an entire second when I smelled that heavenly fragrance come in from the kitchen. It was the lamb that Lawrence had been cooking all day.

"You okay?" Annabeth asked me. Question of the day.

"Yeah." I said. "Why?"

"You're blushing." Thalia said.

I opened my mouth to deny it, but Beckendorf called from across the room, "Its the head wound."

"Oh." Annabeth said. "I suppose that makes sense."

I mouthed the words " _Thank you,_ " to Beckendorf. He nodded and then winked at me when Liam came out of the bathroom, his face almost redder than mine.

To avoid any further embarrassment, I went over to Lawrence and helped him serve up the lamb that he had worked on all day. My mouth was watering by the time that everyone was seated at our small dining table, and by the time everyone was served up, I had been secretly sneaking bits of lamb into my mouth when no one was looking.

Lawrence and I sat at the table. There was more than just lamb. There was potatoes, bread slathered in butter, corn, cranberry sauce, all the good stuff. We started digging in almost immediately and it was well past 7:00 by the time we had finished off all of the food.

"Mm." Percy said, his mouth full of food. "This is amazing, Mr. Clayton."

Lawrence waved his hand in dismissal. "Lawrence is just fine. And thanks."

I cleared the last of the potatoes from my plate and into my mouth. I was the first to finish — probably because I wasn't used to having so much food and slammed it down, due to the lingering fear that I would go hungry again.

"You eat like you'll never see food again." Thalia said, pointing at me with her fork.

Lawrence glanced at me. I realized suddenly that I never told any of them the real story of where I came from.

"Well —" Lawrence started, but I stomped on his foot.

"I'm starving." I said. "Nearly getting killed tends to do that to you."

I knew some of the others were looking at me weirdly, so I suggested opening some presents, which was greeted by a lot of enthusiasm. While the others were setting up, I ran upstairs to my room to grab the presents for my friends, which I had been planning to give to then at school, but now seemed as good a time as any.

So, with my arms full of presents, I made my way down the stairs and (gently) plopped all the boxes down in front of the Christmas tree.

"Aw, you shouldn't have." Liam said.

I rolled my eyes and sat next to Lawrence on the couch. "Who wants to go first?"

"I vote Lawrence, since his food was so great." Annabeth said. The others, including myself, quickly agreed.

Lawrence had a total of two presents overall to open, since the others mostly forgot to bring him some.

The first present he opened was from me, and it was a gift wrapped donut box. He had glared at me until I urged him to open the box, where he found a smaller box with a framed picture of him and I, taken a few months after I had first started going to school. The second and final present he opened was from himself, and it was a nice pair of headphones, imagine that.

The next person voted to open presents was me, and surprise surprise, most of the presents under the tree were for me. Now, I'm not going to pretend that this didn't fill me with some kind of childish joy, but I think I played it off pretty well.

"Cool." I said, sitting on the floor in front of the tree. There were a total of 7 presents (but really, who's counting?), so naturally, I started with the biggest presents first.

This one was from Beckendorf, and it turns out that he made and entire mini archery range that was even collapsible. That was probably the best gift I had ever heard of. I thanked Beckendorf thoroughly afterwards.

The second gift was from Annabeth, which, unsurprisingly, gave me a book about archery, the complete set of Lord of the Rings, and a couple of DC comic books which looked pretty interesting. I thanked her as well.

The next gift I opened was from Thalia, and it was a t-shirt that said "The sass is strong with her" in Star Wars lettering.

After her was Grover's gift, which was, essentially, a cookbook. I didn't mind, since I wanted to learn how to cook, but there sure was a lot of enchilada recipes in the thing.

The 5th present I opened was from Percy, and he gave me an awesome looking video game.

Finally there were only two presents left, from Lawrence and Liam. I decided to open Lawrence's first, since I had been going in order of biggest to smallest anyways.

Lawrence's gift was small in stature, but thick. I suspected right away that it was a book, and I was right. It was a book. Of sorts. It was a picture album.

When I opened the book, the first picture was of a small baby with bright red hair, staring right at the camera while it stuck a finger up its nose. It was captioned, " _Alexandra Clayton, 3 weeks old_."

I looked at Lawrence. "You found my baby pictures."

He smiled at me, a fatherly smile. "There's more."

At his behest, I turned the page. The next picture was of a younger Lawrence. He must have been 25, and he had a beard. A beard! Ha! He was holding an infant version of me in his arms, and I was tugging hard on his AC/DC shirt. We must have still been in the hospital, because I could see a couple of doctors in the background. My only question was...who had taken the picture?

My question was answered when I turned the next page. There, holding the infant edition of Alex Clayton, was a woman who must have been Lawrence's age. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made me catch my breath, and her expression was...gentle. Gentler than I would expect from a goddess. She was wearing a brown leather jacket, black square glasses, and a Star Wars t-shirt with jeans. This had to have been taken a few weeks after the hospital, because she didn't look like she had just given birth.

"Is that..." I heard Annabeth say, but I wasn't listening.

I ran my finger over the picture. "This is my mother."

"It took some real digging to find that one." Lawrence said. "She didn't like taking pictures."

"What was she like?" I asked him.

Lawrence sat back on the couch and searched his memory. "Well, she...she was a lot like you, actually. Stubborn, kind, not too trusting."

I winced.

"But she was one of the best people that I had ever met."

I stared at the photo for a long while before I remembered that I had one more gift to open.

I put the photo album next to me and grabbed Liam's gift — a small box wrapped in simple tissue paper. I glanced at him once before carefully tearing off the tissue paper and opening the small box.

"No way," I said.

It was a small, black MP3 player, complete with a set of white headphones and a charger.

I looked at Liam, surprised. He shrugged. "It's not as expensive as it looks. Besides, I heard you liked music."

" _What's Breaking Benjamin?" I asked suddenly._

 _Liam glanced at me. "You mean you've never heard of them?"_

 _I shook my head._

 _"Okay, that's it." Liam pulled out an MP3 player out of his pocket and handed me a pair of scrunched up headphones. I raised an eyebrow but still placed the buds in my ear. With a flourish, he pressed a button and music started flooding into my ears. There was a heavy guitar, and then the melody started._

 _Dead stars shine_

 _Light up the sky_

 _I'm all out of breath_

 _My walls are closing in_

 _"It's good," I told Liam._

 _I can feel you falling away_

 _No longer the lost_

 _No longer the same_

 _And I can see you starting to break_

 _I'll keep you alive_

 _If you show me the way_

 _"You like it, huh?" Liam took one of the headphones and popped it in his ear._

 _Forever and ever_

 _the scars will remain_

 _I'm falling apart_

 _Leave me here forever in the dark_

"You heard it somewhere, huh?" I said.

Liam winked at me and then took a few moments to show me how to operate the thing. He had already downloaded songs from different bands onto the MP3 player, like Linkin Park, Twenty One Pilots, Breaking Benjamin, some band called The Killers, and even Green Day.

"Thank you. But this is a lot," I said. "You didn't have to do this."

Liam shrugged again. "Yeah I did."

We stared at each other for a single moment, he started to lean forward just a little, and then —

CRASH!

The sound of another window breaking reached my ears from upstairs.

"Crap." I said, scrambling to my feet and grabbing my bow. The others grabbed their weapons and quickly followed, as my instincts told me to go outside. I ran as fast as I could and raced ahead of the others.

There, running in the snow in the middle of the night, was the assassin. He still had the handcuffs on, but some of the chain was broken and he was bleeding. He looked back once at me and then started running faster, so I started running faster. I couldn't run fast enough, though, so he got farther and farther away even as I shot arrow after arrow at him.

Eventually I stopped, because I was out of breath and the assassin was long gone. I leaned on my knees for support and stared down at the snow.

Wait. What was that?

At first I thought it was a patch of blood in the snow, but when I leaned over and picked it up, I found that it was actually a crimson Cleveland Cavaliers beanie.

 _I walked downstairs to the foster care commons. I was starving, and Fred, the caretaker, didn't have any food left in his secret stash, so I figured I'd go check with the others to see what they could find. We'd set up a little organization, the three of us, and it worked pretty well. Well, nobody had starved, at least._

 _I stepped onto the first floor and walked over to Brandon and Ben._

 _"Find anything?" I asked them._

 _"No." Ben stated. "Couldn't find nothin'."_

 _"Wherever the old fart is hiding the goods, he's getting better." Brandon said. One of the reasons we were such good friends was that he was also from Ohio. He was the biggest supporter of the Cleveland Indians, and an even bigger supporter of the Cleveland Cavaliers._

 _Suddenly the door to the Foster Care Building bust open, and Frederick, all covered in rain, stomped inside the complex, wielding a big umbrella._

 _"Which one of you did it?" He demanded, pointing the umbrella at each of us. "I know y'all've be sneaking food off to your little friends like mini Robin Hoods. Which one of you stole the batch this time?"_

 _I glanced to the side and saw little Bobby shaking behind the window curtain, a chocolate smear on his mouth. He was only 6. I couldn't let him take another beating._

 _"It was me!" I said, stepping forward. "I stole the...er...chocolate."_

 _Fred narrowed his eyes at me and snatched the Cleveland Caveliers beanie off of Brandon's head. Without another word to me, he shoved he beanie over my head, effectively blinding me, and then hit me so hard with his metal umbrella frame that I slammed into the floor, seeing stars._

 _"Leave her alone!" I heard Ben shout._

 _"Yeah!" Brandon said. There was sounds of scuffling and then the umbrella slammed hard into my back one, two, three times, until all I could see was the inside-out-tag of the Cleveland Cavelier's beanie._

I gasped and held the beanie in my hand, snapping myself out of the unwanted memory. "Brandon?"

The others finally caught up to me and paused, panting themselves.

"What happened?" Grover said. "Where did he go?"

I stared at the darkness of the street and silently stuffed the beanie in my coat pocket. "He got away."

"You okay?" Percy said. "You look like you saw a ghost."

I felt the beanie in my pocket and shivered, the memory of that day still fresh in my mind. "I'm fine."

 _But I only just met a ghost from the past._

 **Oooooo. And so the plot thickens once again.**

 **Shoot me a review!**


	21. THE PAST PAYS ME A VISIT

**Heh heh. That last chapter was fun to write. Hope you guys enjoy this one. (Does anyone else feel like my A/N are getter shorter?)**

I _was led into the building by the Social Service Officer with gentle hands._

 _"What is this place?" I asked, my voice full of 7-year-old innocence._

 _"This is your new home for a while," The officer said. "You're gonna love it here."_

 _I looked around the grimy home and didn't think anything negative. If the Officer Lady said it was good, then I believed her._

 _The Social Worker called down a man from upstairs. He was about 40 years old, with thinning hair and dressed in flannels. He looked nice._

 _"This is Frederick." The officer said. "He'll take good care of you until we find a family that will take you in."_

 _I nodded at her and then cocked my head sideways at the man named Frederick. He smiled at me. I smiled back. This seemed like a nice place._

 _The Social Worker said good bye to me and then left. As soon as the door closed, Frederick turned on me. His smile had transformed into a scowl._

 _"Listen, you little brat." He said, his words filled with anger. "There are a few rules here. You will not call attention to yourself in any way, shape, or form. You will manage an exact C average in whatever school they enroll you in. You will eat when I tell you to and will do whatever I say, when I say it. Are we clear?"_

 _I looked at the man. "Can I call you Fred?"_

 _SLAP!_

 _Suddenly the world was spinning and I just barely managed to stay upright. Fred had slapped me!_

 _"And you will not speak without permission."_

"Alex?"

"Huh?" I snapped out of the memory and stabbed a fork into my green beans at the same time.

"You okay?" Beckendorf asked me. "You've been staring into space for a good two minutes."

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied.

I had been zoning out like that for days. Memories that I'd locked away suddenly resurfaced with such intensity that I was often pulled from reality without my own consent. This had been happening ever since Christmas. It was even more often now that we were back in school, for some reason. Maybe the structure of the place reminded me of Fred's Foster Care.

The bell for the next period rung and everyone moved from the table. I emptied my barely touched lunch into the trash and grabbed my bag. Unfortunately for me, I turned right into someone's chest.

"Hey, watch i — oh, uh...sorry, Al."

Gah! It was him. Why did it have to be him? And why at this exact moment?

Liam flipped a little bit of brown hair out of his eyes and looked at the ceiling, the table, the floor, and Sally Rodgers. He did not look at me.

Things had been awkward ever since Christmas. Ever since the MP3 player and the bathroom incident.

That's what I've been calling it in my head. An "incident." I didn't want to admit anything, not even to myself. But my subconscious wouldn't let me forget. Lately I had been haunted by dreams of a different scenario in the bathroom, where I had turned my head just a little to the side...

I twisted my ear hard to rid myself of such thoughts. I was going to be late for class. Mr. Blofis would be furious if I missed again.

So I ran off to class. That was it, not another word to that boy. What was wrong with us? One minute we're arguing as fierce as a forest fire and then next we're having..."incidents". I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

And then there was the matter of the assassin. The Cleveland Cavaliers beanie was still sitting in the pocket of my brown jacket. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Brandon was the assassin in black. I mean, that could have been anyone's hat, right?

I sighed as I sat in my classroom seat. Who else would take a Cleveland Cavaliers hat with them when they plan to murder someone? After the falling out that the two of us had, I'm surprised he didn't flaunt the thing in my face before he tried to kill me.

Besides, why would he drop it? An assassin who carefully infiltrates a house to kill someone wouldn't be so clumsy as to "accidentally" drop a hat. No, Brandon wanted me to investigate the Foster Care. He wanted me to return.

So it was a trap, then. A trap for me. What was it, some kind of back-up plan, in case he couldn't manage to eliminate me? Lure me into a place from my childhood so I could be killed there instead? I wasn't even sure that Fred's Foster Care was still open. I had sent a complaint to the police about the place before I left. Surely they would have found something incriminating about the man. The guy beat his kids up. It was no wonder I left the place, alone!

I sat up straighter in my seat, completely ignoring Mr. Blofis's spiel about " _To_ _kill_ _a_ _Mockingbird_ ".

Alone. They expected me to return to Fred's alone, because that was how I usually ran things. They wanted to catch me off guard and vulnerable.

I smirked to myself. How fun it was to prove people wrong.

 **x x x**

I approached the two after school. They were chatting by their lockers, since they were conveniently placed close to each other. When the boy saw me, his eyes immediately flitted away, like they usually did these days. The girl greeted me much more warmly.

"Hey!" Thalia said, slapping me on the back. "We were just talking about you."

I swallowed and pushed the thoughts about the _incident_ from my mind. "I need your help." When Liam started to leave, I added, "Both of you."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "What do you need? And why don't you ask the others?"

I checked to make sure nobody could overhear our conversation. "I'm asking you two because I know you won't tell Chiron." I looked at Liam. "And I'm giving you a chance to re-earn my trust."

Liam's eyes lit up, the awkwardness forgotten. "What do you need?"

I pulled the Cleveland Cavaliers beanie from my jacket pocket. "Do you know what this is?"

Thalia grabbed it and examined it. "You're from Ohio, right?"

I nodded. "Except that's not mine. It belonged to the assassin. He dropped it when I was chasing him."

"So, let's go get Grover." Liam said. "He can smell it and tell us where that douchebag is."

I shook my head. "I already know where he is." When they gave me inquisitive looks, I elaborated. "I knew the assassin. He...he and I were friends when I was younger. His name is Brandon."

"You knew him?" Liam said. "And he tried to kill you?"

The irony seemed to hit us both then. We both looked away at the same time and shuffled awkwardly.

"Oh, for crying out loud." Thalia said, massaging her head. "Okay, so you know who this guy is. How does that explain how you know _where_ he is?"

I bit my lip. Now came the unpleasant part. The part where I had to tell them where I came from.

I opted for staring at the locker behind them as I spoke. "I haven't been completely honest with you guys."

The locker stared back unemotionally.

"What do you mean?" I heard Liam ask.

I took a deep breath. "I was lying when I said I transferred here from a school in Ohio. Well, actually I think I told Annabeth I was from here, but I just let you guys believe whatever."

"What are you saying?" Thalia said.

I tore my eyes away from the locker and looked them both in the eye before speaking. "I was raised in Foster Care my entire life. I bounced around from foster care to foster care until I ended up at a place called Fred's Foster Care when I was 7. He...he was not a good caretaker.

"I ran away when I was in 6th grade. I had gotten fed up with it all, and to make matters worse, my best friend, Brandon, had become Fred's assistant. He was pissed when I left."

Liam scrunched his eyes brows together, like he does when he's confused. "Where did you go? Where did you live?"

"Nowhere. For four years, I was homeless. I found a nice pine tree in Central Park and I stole food from stores and people so that I could survive. I never returned to Foster Care.

"One day, I was stealing food in a super market when I was caught and arrested. An Officer Clayton — my father, though I didn't know it — enrolled me in high school and became my guardian. I think you guys know the rest of the story."

Silence. When I glanced at them, both Thalia and Liam's jaws were wide open. I don't know if they suspected I was being untruthful before, but I know they weren't expecting what I had just told them.

"You...were homeless." Thalia said. I could see the gears turning in her head. "And you lived in a tree. In Central Park."

"Yep."

"What does this have to do with the assassin?" She asked me.

"Brandon always wore a Cleveland Cavaliers beanie. I think he dropped it on purpose, and I think he wants me to return to Fred's Foster Care. I think it's a trap."

I looked at Liam. He had been silent so far. One of the reasons I asked him to help me was that I wanted to tell him the truth. I wanted to be honest with him. I didn't want him to feel betrayed, like I did when I found out his secret. I hoped with all of my being that he could see that.

He wouldn't look at me. "What do you need us to do?" His jaw was clenched. I think he was angry with me.

I pushed my complicated feelings down. I needed to focus. "I need you both to come with me to my old Foster Care."

He bit his lip. "Ok."

"Ok?"

"Ok. When do we leave?"

 **x x x**

We finally decided to take a Greyhound bus to the place, since it was all the way in Queens. As we stood in line to board the thing, I suddenly received such a bad feeling in my gut that it literally sent me keeling.

"Hey, you okay?" Liam asked me, helping me stay upright.

I shook my head, and my gut cleared. Huh. Maybe it was just something I ate. Those green beans did look kind of weird at lunch today...

But no. As I looked up, I saw an 11 or 12 year old boy just staring at me, and suddenly all I could see was little Bobby, hiding behind the curtain.

 _Bobby came to me after the beating. "Aw you okay?" He asked me, thumb in his mouth._

 _I winced as I pulled myself up off the floor. I was about 3 years older than Bobby, so for some reason he saw me as his big sister._

 _"I'm fine." I said. "Next time, tell one of us when you take food from dear old Freddy."_

 _Bobby nodded vigorously. "Ok, Allie."_

 _My name wasn't Allie, but I let Bobby call me that because it was easier for him to remember than Alex. Not just that, but it made me feel like I had a little brother. I didn't, but it felt like I did. That's all this place was: A place of pretending and make-believe, except there were no fairies and you got beaten if you did something Fred didn't like._

I blinked, and the image of 12-year-old Bobby was gone.

"Let's just get on the bus." I said.

Thalia, Liam, and I managed to find seats in the back of the bus, where nobody would hear us.

"You're sure about this?" Liam asked me. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine." I said.

 _4 years after I came to Fred's Foster Care, I worked a small job on the side. It was nothing big, and it didn't keep me out too late, so Fred didn't suspect a thing. I raked leaves and mowed lawns, so my clothes smelled like the outdoors all the time._

 _I climbed in the window of the room that I shared with some of the other kids. The job that I'd had kept me out later than I would have liked, so I hoped that the others came up with a convincing lie to tell._

 _"There you are!" It was Sara. She was a year younger than I. "Frederick is going mad looking for you. We managed to keep him sane, but you have —"_

 _"I'll be careful." I promised her. "Where is he?"_

 _"Downstairs."_

 _I changed my clothes quick so I didn't smell like lawn clippings and hid the money that I had earned underneath my mattress. Then I went downstairs._

 _8 year old Bobby was standing in the main commons along with several other children, and Ben and Brandon were having a heated conversation with Fred. Fred had a fire poker in his hand._

 _I felt my blood run cold. That was never a good thing._

 _I approached slowly, like a hunter would a bear. "Is everything alright?"_

 _Fred turned his demon eyes to me, and I could practically see the steam come out of his nose. "Where were you?"_

 _I chose my words carefully. "I was outside."_

 _"Where exactly were you?"_

 _I hesitated, and that was all the old man needed. He pushed Brandon and Ben out of the way and marched towards me, fire poker in hand. "Tell me, or Bobby gets the fire poker."_

 _I swallowed. I couldn't tell him where I had been. I couldn't. He would take the money, and then I wouldn't be able to buy food for the rest of us. "I...I was..."_

 _"She was raking yards for people for money." Brandon blurted._

 _I stared at him, my mouth agape. He just exposed me!_

 _Fred smiled a nasty smile and then hit me so hard, I blacked out._

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and looked out the window of the bus.

Part of me hoped that the place was closed down, so that none of the other kids would have to face the same things that I did.

But another, darker part of me wished that it was open. And that Fred was still in charge. All so that I could stick an arrow in his smug face.

"What are you looking at?" It was Thalia. "You've been glaring at a spot in that window for a while."

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked over at the two children of the King of Olympus. I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Alex..." Liam said. "What exactly happened in that Foster Care?"

I bit my lip and looked away. "Not good things."

There was a pause in the conversation, and then I felt an awkward hand on my shoulder. "We're here for you," Liam said.

I gave half a smile before I sunk back into my thoughts.

No, I wouldn't kill him. I'd have Lawrence arrest him. Then he'd get sent to prison, and that would be worse than anything I could do to him. Maybe they'd even find a better home for all those kids who had gotten beaten.

When the bus finally pulled to a stop, I was a little on edge. I mean, I was surprised we hadn't been attacked by anything yet. A good portion of the monsters in the area could no doubt smell us. Unless something was keeping them away...

Before I could think much more on that idea, we were off the bus and right in front of a place I'd been before.

"A Walmart?" Thalia said. "They dropped us off in front of a Walmart?"

I smiled to myself. "Let's stop inside real quick."

Liam and Thalia looked at me as if I had grown another head.

"I have an idea," I said.

Once I had explained it to them, they went along happily. I led them into the Walmart that I had stolen out of previously and pointed out the items that I would need. They seemed as if they were useless, which was what I was counting on.

The cashier must have thought that we were crazy. We had a good laugh about it before we left.

"I think the manager recognized you," Liam muttered to me as we left.

I pursed my lips. "Well, I had to get my food from somewhere."

Liam looked at me blankly until understanding dawned on him. And then he laughed. He laughed!

"No wonder you knew the store so well." He said, chuckling.

Thalia looked at us oddly, but I didn't have the energy to explain further. We walked down a couple streets, with me guiding our little trio, until we were a block away.

I stopped us at an alley nearby. There was a small path here that not many knew about that led to the rear of the Foster Care. I had used it when I was 11 to sneak in after mowing some lawns. If there truly was a trap, there was no way I was going in through the front door.

I guided Liam and Thalia through the rat filled alleyway (Liam got a real scare when a rat the size of my arm skittered over his foot) and towards the back of the building.

"Why are we going this way?" Thalia whispered.

"They'll be expecting us through the front door." I whispered back. I don't know why we were whispering. It just felt like the right thing to do in this situation.

I led them a little farther to a cluster of bricks that stuck out of the building, like little footholds. The window that led into my old room was a little off the ground.

"We have to climb up there?" Thalia said, her face pale.

I nodded. "It helps if you don't look down. I don't like heights much either."

Thalia nodded silently, and I offered to go first since I knew the way the best.

Now, I'll be honest. It's been a while since I climbed up there. Almost 5 years, actually. So, naturally, my feet slipped a few times. I'm not going to lie and say that it didn't terrify me. But, I figured that Liam could fly (I still could not wrap my head around that), so if I fell, he would catch me. I hoped.

When I reached the window, Thalia was below me, looking paler than I no doubt was, but I couldn't see Liam on the ground. When I looked up, I found him levitating next to me.

"'Sup," he said.

I glared at him. "I still can't believe that you can fly."

Liam shrugged. "It's a...recent development."

I rolled my eyes and tried opening the window. It was locked, as I expected. I grabbed my hunting knife off of my belt and pried at the bottom of the window, loosening the window. Fred had really old windows, and he never replaced them. Even when I had gotten locked out in the past (which had happened a lot), I had always managed to get back inside.

Finally, the window had become pried open, and I stuck the knife back on my belt.

Liam looked impressed. "How did you do that?"

I smiled just a little. "Fred liked to lock me out. He was never very good at it."

I lifted the window open and climbed inside, then helped Thalia and Liam in. The room was dark and empty, but I didn't let my guard down. I activated my bow, and Liam and Thalia got their weapons out, but I took a moment to look at the mattress that used to be mine. It hadn't been used in quite some time, just as I suspected. There were cobwebs on the frame, and the sheets had been removed, along with the pillows.

"This used to be mine," I said, slapping the mattress playfully.

Liam and Thalia stopped their inspection of the room to look at my bed.

"It's small." Liam said.

"Well, yeah." I said. "I was only 11 when I ran away."

Thalia nodded in approval. "I can't believe you survived by yourself for so long."

"I almost didn't." I said. "Is this room clear? No traps?"

Liam shook his head. "None that we could find."

I gripped my bow a little harder. "Ok. They'll probably be down in the main commons, by the front door. We might be able to sneak up on them."

Liam and Thalia nodded and raised their weapons. I silently opened the wood door that led into the hallway of the upstairs section.

I looked to the right and didn't see anything, and then looked left —

"Drop it." A voice said.

I spun around and aimed an arrow at the speaker, but my arrow faltered.

There, wearing a Cleveland Cavelier's beanie, without a mask to conceal who he was, was Brandon. His bruises hadn't quite healed yet, but he was recognizable.

And he had a knife to Liam's throat.

"I said, drop the bow!" Brandon barked.

Against my will, my hands started to shake, making the arrow unsteady. Thalia walked out of the previous room with a boy that I didn't know holding a knife to her throats as well.

"You really thought that if you could eat in through the window that we couldn't?" Brandon said. "Ha. And I would have thought you'd be smarter after all these years."

"Don't do it." Liam said to me. "Just get out of he—"

Brandon pressed the knife harder against Liam's threat, and he cut himself off.

"Brandon," I said. "Don't do this."

"Oh, he's not the one doing it." A voice, one that I knew too well, said.

A man in a red plaid shirt and jeans appeared behind Brandon. His hair was almost gone now, and he had more wrinkles than he did when I left.

"Fred." I growled.

"Put the bow down, and we can handle this peacefully." He said with a sneer.

I looked at the blade at Liam's throat. Then I looked at Thalia.

I didn't have a choice.

"You win." I said, lowering my weapon. Fred rushed forwards and took them from me.

Then, with an ugly smile, he hit me in the head, and I saw no more.

 **I hope you all have a lot of questions after this chapter. That's what i was going for!**

 **Also, please review.**


	22. WHY DOES THIS ALWAY HAPPEN TO ME?

**Hey, I actually updated pretty fast this time. That's a first.**

 **So I've noticed that in my previous chapters, there are some misspellings and grammar errors that I hadn't seen before. So, if you guys could help point those out, that would be great.**

 **...and guess who has 5,000 views on her story? Me!**

 _I was helping Bobby with his homework when it happened._

 _Fred had just walked into the room with an air of self-importance. "Listen up, twerps."_

 _I bit back a sigh and put down my pencil to look at the old man. He seemed happy. Too happy._

 _"I have recruited a new assistant." He proclaimed._

 _The atmosphere of the room was immediately stolen by those words. The last "assistant" that Fred'd had was a man who assisted in our punishments and beatings. None of us wanted to see another assistant in the Home._

 _"I believe some of you may know him. He is just as heavy-handed as I, so you will treat him as if he were my twin."_

 _I bit my tongue to stop a snarky response, but all thoughts of mine vanished when I saw the new assistant._

 _"Here he is." Fred said. He pointed to the doorway._

 _Brandon looked right at home in his flannels and newfound authority. It was as if he were a clone of Frederick himself._

 _"Brandon!" I exclaimed. "What the hell?"_

I snapped awake with a start. My head was aching like the devil and I was very cold. I tried to stand, but found that I could only sit because I was in a cramped cage. I reached for my weapons, but found that my watch and my hunting knife had been confiscated.

I struggled to remember where I was until the memories came crashing down on me, and I groaned with misery.

"She's awake!" It was Thalia. I looked out of my bars and found her face sticking out of her own little cage across the room from me. We were down in the basement of the Foster Care building, where Fred usually stored the food. I could see now that it was really storage for something else.

There were several cages like mine scattered throughout the room, along with chains on the wall. That was where Liam was. He was unconscious, his arms attached to the wall by thick steel chains that would not break easily. He had blood running down his face and a nasty cut on his chest. I could see the blood seeping through his shirt.

"Liam!" I yelled, throwing myself against the bars. He couldn't be! He can't be dead!

"He's just knocked out." Thalia said, relief evident in her voice. "After that Fred guy knocked you out, he near went crazy. It took four guys to get him under control, and well...you can see the result."

I sighed and sat back against my bars. I had come here to catch Brandon, but I had fallen right into the trap that I had been trying to avoid.

"What is this?" I asked, indicating the rest of the room. "What is he doing down here?"

Thalia pointed to a pile of bronze weapons in the corner. "I think he's a Demigod Trader."

I blinked. "A what?"

Thalia nodded. "Chiron told me about them. They're not as common anymore, but in the old days they would sell half-bloods as labor or for a bounty. Sometimes..." She shivered. "Sometimes they would even breed new half-bloods."

I swallowed. "So Fred...what? Sells Demigods?"

"It's possible." Thalia said. "For our sake, let's hope not. They're ruthless."

Liam started to stir at our voices. "Wha?"

"Liam!" I said.

He woke up suddenly, with a yell, obviously still in fight mode. When he realized that he was in chains, and we were too, he sagged against the wall.

"Are you ok?" Thalia asked.

Liam groaned. "My head feels like someone took a sledgehammer to it and my chest feels like it was sliced open with a chainsaw. Just peachy, sis."

I leaned my head back. I think Fred might have given me a concussion. Imagine what he must have done to Liam. Guilt ate away at me like a parasite.

"I'm sorry, guys." I said. "I never should have brought you here with me."

Liam shook his head and then winced. "I would have come either way. I would have found out and I would have followed you. No way would I have let you walk into this alone. Alex, I l—"

Suddenly the door above us slammed and a light was turned on. The sudden brightness assaulted my eyes and I winced.

Fred marched down the stairs with Brandon at his heels, that latter carrying a baseball bat. That was not a good sign.

"Ah, I see you're all awake." Fred said. "Good. Now we can begin."

Fred gestured to Brandon, and he walked forward and slammed the baseball bat into the front of my cage. I flinched backwards.

Fred laughed. "I always knew what you were, Alex. I just never guessed you would have been so _valuable_." He said the last word with such greed that I recoiled. "Imagine it. Daughter of Artemis! Ha. I wonder how old Loony Moony swung that one. Imagine the price I'll get for you."

"You're going to sell me." I said.

"Oh, I'm going to do much more than that." Fred said, rubbing his hands together and leaning down in front of my cage. "I'm going to mail you straight to Zeus. He'll surely reward me with immortality. Now, whether or not you're alive when that happens is up to you..."

"Don't you touch her!" Liam shouted, struggling against his chains.

Brandon reacted swiftly, by slamming the baseball bat into Liam's gut with ferocity. He heaved, and I could tell he was holding back a scream. He had to have been in great pain.

"Leave him alone!" Thalia and I shouted in unison.

Fred looked at the three of us and then laughed. "And you even brought me two children of Zeus! I really should be thanking you, Alexandra."

"Don't call me that." I snarled.

Fred slammed his fist on the top of my cage. "I will call you whatever I want." He seemed to regain some patience and started pacing. "I was so disappointed when you left 4 years ago, Alexandra. Leaving right before you discovered what you really were. Before I could sell you off. You honestly never wondered what happened to the kids that got 'adopted'?"

"You monster." I said.

"No." Fred said with a laugh. "No, no, no. I'm not a monster. I'm a businessman."

"You are a Demigod Trader." Thalia stated.

"Oh, no." Fred smirked. "Nothing so simple as that. I am a trader, smuggler, businessman, slaver, and breeder."

I shivered at the word _breeder_. He wasn't as bad as I thought he was.

He was worse.

"What are you going to do to the two of us?" Liam asked, gesturing to himself and his sister.

Fred laughed and turned towards Liam. "Oh, I'm going to auction you off. Children of the Big Three are very valuable. Good workers too, once you break their sense of will."

I frowned at him. "Are you a Demigod?"

Fred nodded. "Son of Hermes, at your service. In fact, Brandon here is the Son of Nemesis. I hardly had to ask him to beat the kids after you left."

"No!" I shouted.

"Yes. In fact, little Bobby is here too. Shall I bring him to you? He grew up like you, that one did. Real stubborn. I haven't broken his will, yet."

The fire inside of me came to life, licking at the bars of the cage that held me captive. It roared for Fred's death, and I was in no position to refuse it.

"I'll kill you." I growled.

Fred laughed an evil laugh. "From inside your cage? I think not."

"Where's Bobby?" I demanded.

"Oh, he's on his way back from school. I'm sure he'll love to be reunited with his pretend big sister."

"So you keep Demigods here." Liam said. "I'm willing to bet that most of your minions are Demigods, too. How do you keep the monsters from finding you, since there are so many of you?"

Fred shrugged. "My mother was an archeologist. Really into Greek stuff. One day, she went on an archeological dig, and found this."

Fred pulled a small, golden stick out of his pocket. It was about the size of a pencil. With a press of a button, it grew to the size of a staff, with Greek gods engraved on the side.

"The Staff of Soteria, Greek goddess of safety and deliverance. Lost in the myths. Not many have ever heard of it. It's very handy in keeping the monsters away." He pressed another button and the staff shrunk back down. He stuck it in his pocket.

Brandon coughed. He seemed to be waiting for something.

"Ah, yes." Fred stood and nodded at Brandon. "I did promise you revenge on the Zeus boy, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." Brandon said. He didn't sound like he did when we were kids. He was only 17, but he sounded like he was 30. No, this was not the same boy I knew when I was 11.

"Very well. I will take my leave. Retrieve me when you are finished." With that, Fred left the cellar and shut the door behind him.

"Brandon," I said, warning creeping into my voice. "What are you going to do?"

Brandon lifted his baseball bat. "You think I don't remember the beating this one gave me? You think I wasn't awake the whole time, in the bathroom?"

Oh, gods. He had been there for the almost-kiss. He was awake for it. For Brandon, that must have like a punch in the face.

 _That night was the night that I left. I couldn't do anything if Brandon was the assistant. He knew all my tricks. He knew what I would do before I would do it. The first thing that Fred would do is make Brandon deliver my next beating. I was powerless in this situation, and Fred knew it. The best thing I could do for everyone is leave._

 _I was right in the middle of stuffing my things into an old knapsack that I'd found in storage when he came in._

 _"You going somewhere?" It was Brandon._

 _I looked at him, clenched my jaw, and stuffed the last piece of clothing into the bag._

 _"You're not talking to me, huh?"_

 _I spun on him. "How could you? Fred is a monster. He hates all of us. He beats all of us!"_

 _"And I can change that!" Brandon insisted, taking a step forward. I took a step back._

 _"Nobody can change that." I said. "Nobody except the police."_

 _Before I could say anything else, Brandon grabbed my wrist, as fast as lightning. "You can't tell the police."_

 _I yanked my wrist out of his grip. "Watch me. You're all insane. The kids here don't deserve this."_

 _Brandon took two more steps forward until he was very much in my personal space. I didn't like it._

 _"What are you doing?" I demanded._

 _"You can't leave. Alex, I lo—"_

 _I stepped even farther away from him. "Stop. Stop what you're doing right there. Whatever it is you feel for me, I can assure you that I don't feel the same. You can't stop me from leaving."_

 _Brandon looked like he had just been slapped in the face. "You don't? But...I thought..."_

 _"You thought wrong."_

"Don't!" I yelled, reaching through the bars. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened! Please, don't hurt him!"

Brandon sneered at me. "I'm _not_ sorry."

And he swung the baseball bat.

 **x x x**

"Liam?" I said. "Liam? Come on, wake up!"

He moaned, but didn't open his eyes.

Brandon had beaten him pretty bad. He hadn't broken any bones, but he had left him bruised in so many places it was unreal. He had cuts and bruises all over his body, and his voice was raw from yelling.

My heart ached.

"Liam!" Thalia screeched. "So help me Gods if you don't wake up right now..."

"I'm awake." Liam's voice was hoarse. He could barely speak. He looked at me. "You're friend is a real piece of work."

I closed my eyes and felt a few tears slip down my sweaty cheeks. "Gods, Liam. I'm so sorry. I didn't..."

"It's not your fault." He looked at me as if I was the one that had just been beaten, not the other way around. "None of this is your fault."

"I never should have asked you two to come here!" I cried.

"I never should have beat him up." Liam said. "But I don't regret it. He was going to kill you."

I banged my head against the bars of my little jail, and then winced. My head ached almost as much as my heart.

"I'm gonna get us out of here," I said. Then, quietly, I added, "I just don't know how."

I sighed and shoved my hands into the pockets of my jacket. It was freezing down here.

My hand brushed against a group of paper clips.

The paper clips!

I am such an _idiot_!

We had gotten the paper clips at Walmart, in case I couldn't manage to pry the window open or if we came across any locked doors.

I grabbed two paper clips and got to work on the lock. "Eímai megalýteros ilíthios tou kósmou!"

"You're not the world's biggest idiot!" Thalia said.

I bent the first paper clip one way and used the other to turn the lock. I learned this skill on the streets.

The lock snapped open and the paper clips broke. The cage door swung open with a loud _creaaaaaaaaak_.

"How did you do that?" Thalia asked.

I shrugged. "I learned a few things on the streets."

I unlocked Thalia'a cage and then ran over to Liam. They could be back at any moment, and we were all unarmed.

Liam was very aware of this. "Just leave me. It'll take too long to get me out of here."

I stopped my lock picking to stare at him incredulously. "We're not leaving you."

Thalia nodded and I resumed my frantic attempt to release him. This was a tough lock. "If you think that we would just go, then they must have hit you in the head harder than I thought."

Liam shook his head. "You don't understand. I don't know if I can walk right now. I'm too weak."

"Then we'll help you." I said. "I'm not —"

"Alex!" He shouted. "Just go! Stop being stubborn and just go!"

"Never."

I gave up on the lock-picking. That lock was too good for my skills. I would need the key. Either Fred or Brandon would probably have it.

Thalia called me over to the pile of Demigod weapons in the corner. She had managed to find a slightly bent spear in the pile of mostly broken weapons.

"I couldn't find a bow in here." Thalia said. "But I found a couple swords."

I sighed. "Great." I wasn't much good in a sword fight.

I had just grabbed two swords — one for me and one for Liam, when we got him free — when the door to the upstairs cellar slammed open and Brandon descended the stairs. He had a bronze sword on him. He had probably come to execute one of us. Execute me.

Thalia stepped forward with the spear, but I stopped her. "He's mine."

Brandon stopped what he was doing and immediately grabbed the sword at his waist when he realized that we were free.

I hefted the sword that Thalia had given me and started to formulate a dim plan in my head. It was hard to think. My head was pounding.

Brandon and I circled each other as Liam and Thalia watched.

"What happened to you?" I asked him.

He lunged forward with his sword and I just barely managed to parry. I was outmatched, and we both knew it.

Brandon sneered at me. "You happened."

I thrusted, but he dodged out of the way and struck at the sword so hard that I nearly dropped it. I kept my grip, though, and we continued to circle. Thalia stood by with her spear, and I winked at her. She knew what she needed to do when I told her.

Brandon slashed at me and I blocked, and then he followed up with a backhand and I rolled out of the way at the last moment, and the sword struck the stone floor with sparks.

"You betrayed all of us!" I said.

Brandon lashed out and hooked the handle of my sword with his own and pulled it out of my grip. He kicked me to the ground and leaned over me with an angry scowl. Thalia stepped forward, but I gestured for her to wait. I had a plan.

"And you left me when I needed you," he snarled. "I loved you, and you left! This is your fault, _not_ mine!"

I picked my feet up and kicked him in the gut so hard that he flew across the room and slammed against the wall. I gestured to Thalia and she held him at spear-point.

I grabbed the sword out of Brandon's hands and shook my head at him. "You turned yourself into this, Brandon. I had nothing to do with it."

I grabbed the key off of his belt and told Thalia to lock him in one of the cages.

"With pleasure," she said.

"You're not going to kill me?" He asked, climbing into the cage.

I shut it forcefully and locked it. I leaned down so that I was eye-level.

"I'm not a killer." I said, quietly. "But 4 years ago, I might have been."

Brandon laid down in the cage and said no more to me.

I stood and raced over to Liam, using the keys to unlock his bonds.

"That was awesome!" Liam said, wincing as his arms were released. I helped him stand and gave him a sword. "But you'll have to tell us the full story when we get out of here."

"Deal." I said. "Now, come on. Can you walk?"

Liam used his sword as a sort of cane. "I think. Where do you think they're hiding our actual weapons? I don't like this old thing. It can barely cut through butter."

I climbed up the stairs and peered out the door to make sure that the coast was clear. "They'll probably be in Fred's office. That's probably where Fred is, too. We have to be careful."

Thalia helped Liam up the stairs as I grabbed the baseball bat that Brandon had left down there. That was a weapon that I was much more accustomed to.

I led the three of us through the first floor of the building. It was slow going, because we were trying to be quiet and Liam had to go slower so that he didn't fall flat on his face.

Fred's office wasn't very far from the basement. In fact, it was right above it. On the second floor.

I scouted out the top of the stairs, and it looked clear, so I waved Thalia and Liam up. But the second we were all on the second floor, Liam slipped and nearly fell, until he grabbed a table. But in the act of knocking over the table, he knocked over the glass of water that was there. It shattered against the ground. Loudly.

"Crap." I muttered, before all hell broke loose.

Immediately the doors to the dorm rooms were thrown open and several kids that I didn't know, most of them older than I, ran out, equipped with bronze weapons.

I raised my baseball bat, and Thalia and Liam raised their weapons, and we prepared to defend ourselves.

There were a lot of them. We were three children of powerful gods equipped with barely functioning weapons, many of us injured.

They didn't stand a chance.

Two boys a year older than I came at me with swords, but before they could get too close, I swung the baseball bat hard and nailed one in the head. He went down, unconscious. The second boy swung his sword at me, but I ducked and swung the baseball bat right at his groin. He made a pathetic, high-pitched whine, and fell to the ground. He did not try to get back up.

As more swarmed around us, I caught view of Fred's office at the other end of the hallway. We needed to move down there, but there were too many of Fred's minions here.

"Can't one of you summon a lightning bolt or something?" I asked.

"Not without bringing he building down around us." Thalia grunted.

Liam swung his sword at a big guy from beside me. "Where did he get all these guys?"

"I don't know!" I exclaimed, catching a bronze arrow on my baseball bat. I swung, and the archer received a nasty welt on his head. Before I could pick up the bow, I was nearly decapitated by a large girl with a bronze great-sword. I swallowed. One swing of that big sword, and she could slice right through my baseball bat. So, instead of waiting for her to kill me with that giant sword, I got an idea. Since I was still wearing my nemean lion's pelt, when she swung, instead of using my bat to block the bow, I simply held up my arm. The greatsword shattered against the impenetrable leather jacket, and as an added bonus, some of the shards ricocheted off of me and struck down no less than five of Fred's grunts.

That seemed to give some of the others pause, and I saw an opportunity.

"Stop!" I shouted.

Immediately, both sides stopped what they were doing to listen to me. I didn't realize I commanded such authority. Maybe some of them had heard of my earlier exploits in this Foster home.

"We're not your enemy!" I said, loud enough so that they could all hear me.

"Alex!" Thalia hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Just trust me," I whispered back. Then, in a louder voice, "The only fight we have with you is the one that Frederick gave us. He wants to sell us, because we were born to certain parents, and that makes us valuable. Nobody has the right to punish you simply because you were born!"

I heard a few murmurs of approval.

"And for those of you that think you're safe from him," Liam said, leaning heavily on his sword. "Just look at us! How many of you have been beaten into submission? How many of you will he sell in his pursuit of greed?"

I was surprised. It was very eloquent, coming from Liam. Well, he did want to be a journalist. I guess I should have expected that.

With a few more words among themselves, the people that we had been fighting lowered their weapons.

I laughed. "Thank the gods. Now let's go kick Fred's butt."

The children that Fred had employed parted for us as we walked towards Fred's office.

"Well played," Thalia said.

Liam and I shrugged, almost in unison.

"Come on," I said. "Fred's office is just down here."

Fred's office was one of the biggest rooms in the building, and it had no windows, so I suspected he had no idea what was going on outside.

Thalia and Liam let me go first, so I threw open the door and marched inside.

The inside of Fred's office was not very special. It was pretty standard, with nothing to decorate it except a _KISS_ poster and a chest in the corner. That had to be where our weapons were.

Fred looked up from his desk. "Brandon, what is the meaning of thi— _you_."

" _Me_." I said, imitating the disgust in his voice.

"How did you get past my army? You should have been overrun!"

"There's one thing you have yet to learn." I said. "Beat your kids, and they fight back."

Fred stood from his office chair and glared at me. He had a sword at his belt. "You'll pay for this."

I shook my head and tsked. "Freddy, you have so much to learn." I walked around his desk until we were face to face. Liam and Thalia were behind me. "Now, we're going to get our things, and then we're leaving."

"Over my dead body." Fred said. "You'll never leave here alive."

He started to draw his sword, but I beat him to it, grabbing the sword out of his hilt and bringing it up so fast that the butt of the sword slammed into the bottom of his head. He was knocked backwards onto the floor, unconscious.

I breathed out heavily. I was so tired.

"That," Liam said, pointing at me. "Was freaking amazing."

I grinned and stepped over Fred's body to get to the chest. I flipped it open and found several things:

1\. My watch/bow and my hunting knife

2\. Liam's ring/sword

3\. Thalia's spear and shield

4\. A large pile of drachma

5\. A small, golden stick, complete with small carvings of the Greek gods. It was the Staff of Soteria.

I tossed Liam and Thalia their things and pocketed the rest. I'm sure Chiron could find some use for the staff.

But before I could do anything else, my legs were swept out from under me and I hit the floor, hard.

Fred pressed his foot against my chest and held a sword against my throat.

Liam and Thalia raised their weapons, but Fred touched the tip of the sword to my throat and they backed off.

"You really thought it was that easy, didn't you?" Fred growled. "I knew you were trouble the minute you walked in."

"Quoting Taylor Swift, now, are we?" I asked. He pressed the sword a little harder into my throat, and I felt blood trickle out. I shut my mouth.

"You're too much trouble." Fred said. "I think I'll just kill you here and now. I'll get immortality either way."

"Ah," I said. "Except if you kill me, my friends may kill you. Apparently, people like me now."

"Shut up!" Fred said. His eyes were wild and crazy. You'd have thought that I was the one with a sword to _his_ throat.

"I just have one last thing to say." I swallowed. This was a risky move. "You beat your kids. You're a monster, and you can deny it all you want."

Fred scoffed. "So what if I beat my kids? So what? It makes them more submissive. I'm doing the work of the parents, here and now. They'll thank me."

Even though Fred was standing over me, I still managed to hit the stop record button on the cheap audio recorder in my pocket that we'd bought at Walmart before we came here. It started to play back.

 _"So what if I beat my kids?"_

"Gotcha." I said, waving the audio recorder in his face.

His eyes narrowed at me. "Why you little —"

 _SLAM!_

Thalia slammed the butt of her spear into Fred's behind, and he slammed into the wall, unconscious. For good, this time.

I sighed and stood. That took longer than I thought it would. The old man was getting stubborn in his old age.

"Thanks." I told Thalia.

Liam looked down at Fred's unconscious body. "What are we gonna do with him?"

"Well, we already have a confession from him. And I'm sure anyone outside the office would be willing to testify. And my father just so happens to be a police officer."

Liam smiled at me. "You're a genius."

I sat down heavily in Fred's office chair. "Uh, back down in the cellar, you were trying to say something before Fred interrupted you."

Liam's ears were bright red. "Er...yeah?"

I swallowed. "What were you going to say?"

Liam's pulse at the base of his throat started beating rapidly. Was he nervous? He certainly seemed embarrassed.

"Well...I was...I mean I was going...uh...I was going that say that I—"

"What's going on?" Someone demanded. A boy about 12 years old suddenly marched into the room, a bronze dagger in hand. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and I knew him.

"Bobby?" I asked, my voice trembling with disbelief.

Bobby held up his dagger and glared at me. "Who are you?"

I nearly fell over when I stood from the chair. "Bobby, it's me. It's Allie."

Bobby stared at me for a moment, and then he dropped his dagger. The sound clanged against the hardwood floor as he ran forward to hug me, and I accepted the hug with open arms.

"Is it really you?" Bobby asked.

"It's me." I said. "It's really me."

"Who's your friend?" Thalia asked.

I released Bobby and stood. "This is Bobby."

"She might as well be my big sister." Bobby said.

"You got so big!" I exclaimed, looking him over. "And you have a knife."

Bobby shrugged, an action similar to something I would have done. "Fred tried to hide the weapons from me, but I figured I might need to defend myself."

Liam looked at me in awe. "He sounds just like you."

Bobby peered at Liam and then looked at me suspiciously. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Instantly my face went red. "No!"

Liam shook his head in a feverish _no_. His face was bright red. Although, he did mutter something under his breath that I didn't quite hear...

I shook off my embarrassment and glanced at Bobby. "Do you know who your parent is?"

Bobby nodded. "Dionysus."

Liam choked on air. "You're Mr. D's kid?"

Bobby stared at him blankly. "Who?"

"Never mind." Thalia said. She looked at me and gestured towards Fred, unconscious on the floor. "Let's get him locked up."

I smiled. A genuine smile. "With pleasure."

 **So I did my best to not end in a cliffhanger this time. I now some of you _hate_ that, so I'll try my best to not do that anymore.**

 **Or will I?**

 **Mu-ha-ha-ha.**

 ***ahem* Once upon a time, there was a girl named Jackie who greatly appreciated it when people reviewed her stories. The end.**


	23. I AM PUNISHED

**Yes! I finally figured out how to do the center setting on my phone for this thing! I'm proud of myself.**

 **On another note, I'm not a big fan of this chapter...but I'll let you guys decide.**

I knocked my fist against the Bentleys' door nervously. It was bad enough that I had gotten a mountain of my own homework. Now I had to bring Liam his, too.

Liam had healed up quickly enough. Chiron had given him a hefty helping of nectar and ambrosia, to the point where he developed a fever. He didn't burn up, though, so I suppose that was a good thing. I still felt incredibly guilty, though. Liam's mother was keeping him home from school for the rest of the week until he was all healed up, so I had to take him the homework and notes that he was missing. I wasn't thrilled, that's for sure.

After a moment the door opened, and a girl a few years younger than me appeared. She had red hair and green eyes, and she was wearing a green coat and jeans. She had headphones in her ears, but she took one out when she spoke to me. "Who are you?"

"I'm Alex. I was told to bring Liam his homework, and —"

"Mom!" The girl yelled inside. "There's a girl here for Liam!"

I would have sighed except for the fact that I didn't want to offend the girl.

There was the sound of a few pots clanging and then a woman with curly red hair and blue eyes in a cooking apron appeared in the doorway. She took one glance at me and then said, "Jasmine, why don't you go tell your brother that his friend is here?"

"Yes, Mom." Jasmine said. She looked at me one more time and then ran up the stairs by the door.

"And you must be Alex." Liam's mother said. "Come in, come in."

I did as she said and stepped inside their small but comfy house. "I'm here to —"

"To give Liam his homework, I know. Such a shame that he fell down the stairs at school, isn't it?" Liam's mother, who had introduced herself as Abigail, beckoned for me to take my shoes off. I did, and then realized how ragged my purple converse were. It had certainly been a while since I sto— borrowed them from Walmart.

"Yeah. He fell down the stairs. He's so clumsy." I said. I followed Abigail into the kitchen and grabbed Liam's homework out of my bag. "Should I just leave this here, or..?"

"Oh, I'm sure you can just bring it to him. I'm sure he'd be glad for the company." Abigail said, pulling out a TV dinner from the microwave.

My mouth watered. Salisbury Steak.

"Liam _loves_ Salisbury Steak." Abigail said. "It's all he's been asking for, lately."

"I could take it up to him, if you want." I said. "You seem sort of busy."

"You would do that?" She asked. "Thank you so much. I can see why Liam likes you so much."

I felt my face reddening and decided to take the homework and food upstairs before any more comments about our relationship could be made. All things considered, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

After a balancing competition between the Salisbury Steak and the book of French homework (I didn't even know Liam took French!), I managed to make it to the second floor and in front of Liam's room. Jasmine and her brother were right in the middle of an argument.

"Mom says your girlfriend is here!" Jasmine said, in a sing-song voice.

"She's not my girlfriend!" I heard Liam screech.

I knocked on the wall next to his door, since his room was open. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Ah!" It was Liam. He was sitting on his bed, under the covers, wearing (and I'm not making this up) Star Wars Pajamas. He wasn't wearing his glasses, which was an odd experience for me, but he still had a book laying open on his bed. When he saw me he hastily threw his glasses on his face and covered up his pajamas with his blankets. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, your mom sent me with homework and Salisbury Steak." I said, shifting uncomfortably. "Should I leave, or —"

"No, no, it's fine." He said. It didn't look like he was fine. He looked very uncomfortable, and I really wanted to leave before something happened.

However, against my instincts, I walked into the room and pulled his office chair over to Liam's bedside. Carefully, I set the Salisbury Steak in front of him and laid out all of his homework on his bed. That meant I could leave, right?

"Thank you." Liam said. "Did my mom make you come up here? She's under the impression that every girl that comes over here has a thing for me."

I choked on air.

Why does everyone think that?

Better question: _how many girls has he had over here?_

I cleared my throat. "And just how many girls have you had over here, William?"

He looked like he was going to say something, but then thought better of it. "If I'm being perfectly honest, you're the first."

 _Good_.

Wait, no! I don't care how many girls he's had over with him! I don't!

But I do.

I changed the subject quickly. "So...Star Wars pajamas, huh?"

Liam's face turned red. "Uh...yeah. I didn't know they would send you over, or I would have worn something completely different."

I wish someone _would_ have given him notice. Then maybe things wouldn't be so awkward. Well, they still would have been awkward, but maybe less awkward.

So, instead of speaking, I looked around the room we were in.

I expected Liam's room to be a typical teenage boys', but instead I found the opposite. Everything was organized and put away neatly. He had a wooden desk in the corner and it had a few papers on the surface, but for the most part that was tidy as well. The only thing that I could find out of place in his room were some wood shavings on the floor, next to his poster of the map from Lord of the Rings.

I pointed at his poster and then his pajamas. "And you called me a nerd."

He huffed. "Well, at least I own up to it. Hey, is there any English homework here?"

I shuffled through his homework until I found it. "Yeah. Why?"

"I...kinda need help with it."

I sighed. "Do you want me to help you?"

He nodded vigorously.

I pulled out the worksheet and a pencil and pointed at the first sentence, which was a little hard to read, but I managed. "What exactly are you having problems with?"

Liam shrugged. "The transition words are hard for me."

"Oh." I said. That was one of the things that I was actually good at, when it came to grammar. I pointed out the transition word in the first sentence. It was _otherwise_. I think. That word has always been hard for me to read. "This is a transition word because it's connecting two subjects." I pointed at the first part of the sentence, which was _Chuck needs to_ _leave now_ , and then the second part, which was _otherwise he will be late_.

"Oh." Liam said. "I guess that makes sense."

So I kept helping him with his English homework, and so he kept asking for help. He even let me have a little bit of his Salisbury Steak. It was actually kind of fun.

Ugh. I feel dirty. Who would have thought that I would say _schoolwork_ was _fun_.

I was right in the middle of explaining prepositional phrases when I glanced over at Liam and found him staring at me. Not at the paper, where he was supposed to be looking, but at me.

I found my pencil stuttering. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

He blinked. "What? No. I was just thinking."

I peered at him suspiciously. "Thinking about what?"

His eyes flicked away again. It was becoming a habit. "You've been at Goode for what? 3 months? Four?"

I nodded and fidgeted with the pencil. "The last time I went to school before this was 4 years ago."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? The last class you had was in 6th grade? And you learned all this in 3 months?"

I shrugged. "It helps that I actually _like_ English, even if it's hard to read."

Liam shook his head. "You're insane."

I glared at him. "Oh, _I'm_ the insane one?" I shoved his French book in his face.

He laughed. "Ah, mais le français est la langue des hommes de dames." Then he winked at me.

I blinked once, then again. "What?" What did that mean?

He smiled. "Never mind."

We worked in silence for a few more minutes until I got up the nerve to ask a serious question.

"Liam," I said.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Why does Zeus want me dead?"

 _Snap!_ It was Liam's pencil lead breaking on his paper. Where the answer to a problem should be, there was a black line of graphite.

Liam didn't look at me. "Remember what we argued about at the beginning of the year?"

"Yeah. You said that the Gods themselves couldn't be punished, but their kids could be." An uneasy feeling was creeping into my stomach.

"Well, think about it. Artemis begged her father for an oath of maiden-ship. He didn't want to, but he did. She's kept that oath for thousands of years, and now all of a sudden her child appears? Zeus would be pretty steamed. And he is. Whether or not Artemis broke her vow, you're still here. You're still alive." Liam swallowed. "My father does not like being disobeyed. He had to make an example out of her. Out of _you_. If Artemis, a powerful goddess, broke her oath, what's to stop the other gods from losing their loyalty to him?"

"The gods can't be punished but their children can." I muttered. "So, what? Zeus wants to make an example out of me?"

Liam glanced around the room. "You can't tell Chiron I told you this, but yes. If you die, it sends a clear message to all the other gods."

I shook my head. "So why doesn't Zeus just come down here himself and kill me? Why send all the monsters and assassins?"

"It's considered demeaning. It's a matter of pride, you see. And if Zeus himself killed you, Artemis would be sure to rebel. If a monster kills you, it can be played off as an accident, something that happens to all demigods."

I sighed. "Great. So my mother only cares if I die because she doesn't like her father."

"You're not going to die." Liam said.

I scowled and started pacing around his bedroom. "So? Even if I manage not to die today, what about tomorrow, or the day after that? What about 10 years from now? Can I ever have a life if I'm constantly running from a _god_?"

Liam tried to get out of bed to speak to me, but he winced, and I caught sight of more bruises on his arms. Bruises that hadn't been there, even after the Foster Care Incident.

"What happened?" I said, pushing him down so that he would stay in bed.

"I fell down the stairs." He didn't look at me. He was a bad lier.

"Stop lying to me." I said. "What really happened?"

Liam hesitated. "I...I told you my father doesn't like to be disobeyed."

It was like someone had poured a gallon of gasoline on the fire in my chest that had been slowly burning for weeks now. It leaped up and licked at the walls of my chest, of my head, of my mouth. I thought for sure that if I spoke, the fire would explode, and burn down everything around me.

But it didn't.

"What did he do?" My voice was that eery calm again, like it got when I was furious. _Nobody_ goes after my friends, god or not.

"It was nothing." Liam said. "It was only a pair of hell hounds —"

" _Only_?" I said. "Liam, your own father tried to have you killed, and you're not freaking out?"

He rubbed one of his bruises sorely. "Obviously he doesn't know me very well or he would have sent more than just two hellhounds."

I rubbed my neck and plopped down in the office chair in front of him.

I wanted this to end. I wanted this stupid chess game to end, and I wanted to win. I wanted my own life in the city that I choose with the friends that I choose and the school that I choose. I didn't want to always be on the run. That's not living. That's surviving. And those two things are very, very different.

"Let's just not talk about this anymore, yeah?" Liam said. He was observing me carefully. I think he knew that I was thinking those dangerous thoughts.

"Yeah." I said. For now.

 **x x x**

I sighed and adjusted my seat in the gymnasium uncomfortably. They really needed to invest in better bleachers.

The principal, Mr. Quorido, tapped on the microphone to make sure that it was on before speaking. "Welcome, class of 20—" The microphone squealed loudly and none of us could hear what was said. "We have called you here today to discuss the annual Goode Winter Outing!"

Everybody groaned. I didn't know what it was, but I'd learned that when teachers say it in an over cheery voice, it was probably crap.

"What's that?" I asked Annabeth.

"It's some stupid camp-out that they have in the winter. Nobody ever goes." She whispered.

"And this year," Mr. Quorido continued, "in order to better assist our struggling students, we are allowing the school board to make the trip mandatory for anyone with a detention, suspension, or infraction on their record."

I blinked. "What does that mean?"

Annabeth groaned. "It means that everyone at our lunch table has to attend."

I swore in Greek, under my breath. I really needed to break that habit.

They started to pass out forms with a picture of a little strawberry farm on the front. I assumed it would be where we were going. Luckily, the trip was free. It didn't mean that I wanted to go.

But I guess that was my fate. Dodging monsters and gods and visiting Strawberry Farms on a big hill.

Fun.

 **Please Review!**


	24. THE WHEELS ON THE BUS GO ROUND AND ROUND

**Let me start off by saying that I originally meant to write this chapter _waaaaaay_ longer, but I was feeling hard-pressed on time, so I cut it shorter than I would have liked and published it. *sigh***

 **AND GUESS WHO ALMOST HAS 7,000 VIEWS?**

 **I don't know why that was in all caps. I'm just excited.**

* * *

I threw a t-shirt into the duffel bag and frowned. "I don't understand why I have to go to this stupid thing."

Lawrence took a sip of his root beer and changed the channel on the TV. "Well, you did start a fight."

"No!" I exclaimed. "Well...those were extenuating circumstances."

"And don't forget those two times that you got detention."

I sighed. "Okay, _those_ two were on me." I kicked my duffel bag in frustration. "This is stupid."

"Well, back in my day," Lawrence said, stretching himself out on the couch. "We actually went outside and roasted marshmallows over campfires at these kinds of things."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, back in your day people had to communicate by carrier pigeon." I stuffed the last thing that I needed into the duffel bag and zipped it up. "There. All packed."

"Took you long enough." Lawrence said. He stood from the couch and checked his watch. "Shoot. We're gonna be late if we don't hurry."

I grabbed my duffel bag (it was especially heavy because I was smuggling two twelve packs of Mountain Dew with me) and said goodbye to Cooper before stuffing the bag in the car and buckling up in the passenger's seat.

"So who all is going?" Lawrence asked, as he started the car.

"Uh, well, there's Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, Grover, Beckendorf, Selena, Clarisse and her stupid friends, and Liam."

Lawrence waggled his eyebrows at me at the last name.

I sighed. Why does everyone think that something's going on there? There isn't!

...I think.

I huffed and looked out the window at the passing scenery.

It wasn't that long of a ride to the school, but we were still five minutes late.

Now, it was about 6 in the morning. They wanted us there early because it was about an hour long bus ride, mostly due to New York traffic, and so as a result, everyone looked like zombies, even Annabeth, who normally looked like she got 12 hours of sleep every night.

Lawrence dropped me off at the door with my duffel bag and then drove back home to catch some more Z's.

I lugged my bag up to the buses (charter buses) and sighed. Okay, maybe I didn't need to put _two_ twelve packs of Mountain Dew in there. But hey, it would be worth it in the end, because this was supposed to be a week long trip.

I, along with the others, managed to squeeze my bag into the little storage compartments under the buses and stood on the sidewalk until we were told to get on the bus.

"I guess now would be a bad time to mention that I hate buses, right?" I said to Thalia.

"Yeah." She said. "Just remember: at least you aren't that high in the air."

I snorted. "Yeah. That's the one good thing about this trip."

Liam and Beckendorf walked over to us, the former with a waffle in his mouth and a slice of bacon in his left hand.

Thalia sighed. "Why didn't you ear before you came, Liam?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. I had some coffee, but that's not working out too well for me. I'm probably gonna pass out the second I put my butt in a seat." He took another bite of his waffle.

Even though it had been a week since I helped him with his homework, and he had been on bedrest, he still looked sorta beat up. I mean, he didn't have any bruises that I could see, but he still had bags under his eyes and looked a little unsteady on his feet. That could have been from the exhaustion, but the answer to things like this were never that simple.

"When are we actually supposed to leave?" Beckendorf yawned.

I checked my watch. "About five minutes ago."

As if on cue, we all groaned in unison, and then busted a gut laughing afterwards. Well, all except...

I looked over to my left and saw Annabeth and Percy arguing fiercely, although just out of earshot.

I nodded towards the pair. "What's up with them?"

Thalia shook her head. "They're probably arguing about _Rachel_ again."

I blinked. "Who's that?"

Beckendorf nodded towards a girl with frizzy red hair in a ponytail laughing with her friends. She had a small bag with a blue plastic hairbrush sticking out of it. She didn't look like a bad person. Why did everyone at our table dislike her?

"All aboard!" One of the teachers shouted. I think it was Mr. Blofis.

I rubbed my face and shuffled into the bus along with all the other sophomores.

It was gonna be a long ride.

 **x x x**

I yawned. It was 6:30 am. I was exhausted. The only problem? I can't fall asleep on a bus. I mean...I'm physically not able. Believe me, I tried. Eventually I just had to settle to listening to my MP3 player while everyone else snored. Now, though, people were waking up and it was starting to get noisy, so I decided to put my music away and actually talk to people.

The second I put the device in my pocket Thalia's head popped up from the seat in front of me. Annabeth was to my right, since I was in the window seat.

"So." Thalia said. "I've decided that this trip is for getting Alex some more friends."

I sighed. "Remember the last time you tried to do that? I nearly got puked on."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah, but there shouldn't be a problem with that this time. I think."

Annabeth rubbed her neck sorely. She must have fallen asleep in a weird position. "She does have a point, Thalia. A lot of the kids here either aren't interested in talking to Alex, don't know who she is and are socially awkward, or just don't like her."

"Thanks." I deadpanned.

"I'll prove it to you." Thalia said. "Alex is more than capable of making her own friends. Here, what about Derek? He's a good friend of mine. Son of Ares, but not friends with Clarisse. He's the perfect test subject."

I'd heard about Derek. He was one of those guys that all the girls swooned (I hate that word) over. He played almost every sport imaginable and got some of the best grades in our class. I didn't much care for him, but that didn't stop Thalia from retrieving him from his seat from somewhere behind me and bringing him up front, where we were sitting.

Derek was wearing a varsity letter jacket and jeans. He had black hair, and brown eyes. He was tall and slim, his skin a russet, dark brown.

"Derek, Alex. Alex, Derek." Thalia said. She pointed between us.

"Hi." I muttered. This was stupid.

"Yeah. Alex is in my Gym Class." Derek said.

"What?" I said.

"Yeah. Mr. Julian pays more attention to you than me so I doubt you'd notice me."

The words were harsh but spoken kindly. Mr. Julian "paid more attention" to me because I was the more resistant of his students. I wasn't a good runner, and I couldn't really climb the rope that well. The only thing that I was actually good at was Basketball. And golf. And baseball. And Ping-Pong. And Dodgeball. Okay, so pretty much anything that involved aiming I was good at. Maybe it was because of who my mother was, I don't know. But Mr. Julian hardly ever played sports in class, so P.E was yet another course I was flunking.

"Huh." I said.

"So, did you guys hear?" Thalia asked.

"What?" Derek said.

"They're going to have some kind of formal dinner." Annabeth said with a shrug. "It isn't that big of a deal."

I groaned. "Of course they are. It's not enough to force us to go to this, but now they have to make everything awkward between the two genders."

"It's not always awkward." Derek said. "Sometimes they both know what they want."

I glanced at at Liam unconsciously and found that he looked like he'd taken a bite of a sour lemon. He wasn't looking at me, though, so I assumed it was something that Beckendorf said, since he was sitting next to him.

The bus lurched suddenly and we all almost fell out of our seats.

"Well," Derek said. "I should probably get back to my seat so that I don't die." And with that, he walked back to wherever his seat was.

"See?" Thalia said. "That wasn't so bad."

"Yeah." I said. "Except almost every single time I've met a new person they've been a monster."

"Don't worry." Annabeth said. "The Staff of Soteria is in my duffel bag. Chiron arranged it so that all the Demigods were on one bus. The staff will make sure that no monsters can enter Camp. It's impossible for anyone here to be anything but a mortal or a demigod."

Darn. Now I have to be social.

"So what else are they making us do?" I yawned again.

"Well, there's gonna be indoor crafts —" Thalia and I made a face. "— outdoor P. E —" I gagged. "And some outdoor activities." Annabeth babbled off the list, but her heart didn't seem into it, like it normally was.

"Are you ok?" I asked. "You seem kinda..."

"Sad." Thalia finished.

I had never, in the entire time that I had known Annabeth, seen her sad. Not like a "I failed a test" kind of sad, but the kind of sad that felt like it would tear your heart apart.

"It's nothing." Annabeth said.

"Lier." Thalia said, at the same time that I said, "Be honest."

She sighed and slumped down in her seat a little bit. "It's just...it's stupid."

"Ah, so it's boy troubles, then." Thalia said, rubbing her hands together in a mischievous manner.

Annabeth blushed and tried to sink down further in her seat. "No!"

"You're a bad lier." I said.

She crossed her arms and wouldn't look at us.

I sat up straighter in my seat to look around and spotted Percy, a couple seats away, staring out the window moodily in the same position.

"Why don't you just go talk to him?" I asked her in a hushed tone, so that Percy wouldn't hear.

Annabeth didn't move, but she did look at me, which was a start. "He wouldn't listen."

"Then make him listen." I said. "Look, obviously you're both upset, and you'll both get even more upset if you just ignore the problem."

Annabeth sat up straight in her seat. "You're right."

"Well, she does have some Athena blood." Thalia said. Her eyes widened. "Wait, that means that Annabeth is your Aunt!"

The three of us instantly started laughing so hard that tears sprang from our eyes. It felt good to laugh that hard again.

When Annabeth finally left to go talk to Percy in hushed tones, I whispered to Thalia, "And that means Percy is about to be my uncle."

We shuddered.

"Well," Thalia said. "I'm going to take another nap. See you at the end of this trip." She sat back down in her seat and immediately started snoring.

I laughed a little to myself and looked around the bus for someone to talk to. I knew I wasn't gonna be able to go back to listening to music, that was for sure.

Percy and Annabeth were still talking, Thalia and Grover were asleep, and Beckendorf was no where to be found, so that meant —

Liam sat in the seat next to me. "This is fun, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, except for the fact that I feel like Dr. Phil."

He bumped his shoulder into mine playfully. "Well, Dr. Phil is a pretty helpful guy."

I sighed. "I guess."

Liam's face took on a more serious expression. "Seriously. Before you got here, it felt like everyone was parked at a stop sign. Now you've got us all moving again. Heck, you even got Beckendorf and Selina together!"

Well, everyone was moving forward except for us. The two of us were parked across from each other, each daring the other to make the first move.

I'm just afraid that when one of us finally does, the other will go in full reverse.

"So." He said. "You never told me about your friend Brandon."

I physically flinched. "Yeah."

"If I didn't know any better," He said, fiddling with the ring on his finger. "I'd say that he had a massive crush on you."

I slumped in my seat. "You heard that, did you?"

"Hey, I may have been half dazed and bleeding, but I never miss something that has to do with my best friend." He winked at me. "So what happened?"

"I...kinda, sorta...rejected him. Harshly."

Liam whistled and then chuckled.

"What?" I said, defensively. "He was thirteen and I was eleven at the time. It was kinda weird, and I didn't even like him that way."

"So, who _do_ you like that way?"

It wasn't a question. It was a challenge.

One that I didn't rise to.

When I didn't answer Liam, the two of us sat in silence for a while.

He couldn't have known it, but I kept sneaking glances at him every now and again. There was a respectable distance between us. We each had enough space to put one hand on the bus seat, and our hands, consequently, were right next to each other. Our hands were not touching and I found myself wishing that they were. But neither one of us bridged that gap the entire time that we were on the bus, although I had been seriously considering it.

What is wrong with us?

* * *

 **Soooooooooo, in celebration of having more than 6,700 views, I'be decided to do some more Review responses/recognitions. I said I'd do them earlier, I think, but I just forgot, so here they are.**

 **Common Reviewers:**

 **fieryheart959: thanks for the clarification there. I appreciate you always saying how great of a writer I am, because honestly sometimes I NEED the encouragement.**

 **Anomaly90: thanks for hating my cliffhangers. Sometimes I hate them too.**

 **Not as Common/One time reviewers:**

 **SecretsWithSouls00: Literally you just saying that I have the same writing style as Rick Riordan made my day.**

 **Margaret.B3irne: glad I renewed your faith in reading, I know I sometimes get the same way sometimes.**

 **I'll admit, I'm not very good at writing these ^, so if you don't want your name here for some reason, let me know, and if YOU want to be recognized you should review more (mu-ha-ha, this is all to get you to review more)**


	25. I'M BACK, BITCHES!

**Welp, it's been a loooong time, guys. I haven't worked on this story in what...two years? It's been a while.**

 **first things first: I would like to apologize for taking so long to update. Two years ago, I was going through a particuarly stressful time, so getting through that took priorty. But I'm back now.**

 **Second: I am not sure if I will be able to update frequently. I'm going to try and finish this story up for you guys, though. I hate when writers just abandon their stories, and once again I am sorry that I did the same to you guys.**

 **And third: This chapter misses a few details, which will be gven in the next story. Very important: IT IS FROM LIAM'S POV.**

 **And without further ado, I give you the twenty-fifth chapter!**

You'd think everyone would be happy when we got off the bus and arrived at the camp. But _no_. Instead, everyone started complaining even more than they already were. Some of them refused to get off of the bus, until their bladders reminded them that there were toilets nearby and they ran hurriedly off in that direction.

The buses arrived at the base of a big hill filled with pine trees. It was raining too. I didn't much mind, since I simply flipped my hood up, but of course everyone else whined.

I was attempting to grab my bag out of the back of the bus storage space (since some idiot pushed it all the way to the back) when a hand from behind grabbed it for me with ease. I climbed out of the storage space to look at my helper and found none other than Derek, the guy from the bus.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he replied. "They better get us inside soon."

"I don't mind the rain."

"I do."

Suddenly I got a headache so large that all others paled in comparison. My head felt like someone had detonated a nuke inside of it. I stumbled, but the headache faded after a moment and I shivered. It was probably the stupid rain. "Yeah, let's get inside."

I dragged my duffel bag with the others through the mud to the top of the hill, where we found a big strawberry field and a few wooden, plain cabins littered about the place. There was a large pavilion that looked like it usually didn't have a roof, but someone had spread a leaky canvas one across the top.

We gathered into the pavilion, all shaking from the cold weather and the rain. I stood with my friends and Derek separated from me to go stand with his as Mr. Quorido started talking, standing on a picnic table.

"Welcome, students, to Camp Full-Water!"

"What kind of camp name is that?" I muttered to Thalia.

She shrugged. "They're a school. They're bad at naming things."

I snorted. That much was true.

"Before we get you all to your cabins, I think it's better if all of the activities were canceled for this evening because of the rain."

Everyone cheered, including me. I'd much rather take a nap in a cabin than hang out in this weather.

I rubbed my forehead. My head still ached a little bit. I'd make sure to fall asleep. That should fix it, right?

Mr. Quorido said a few more things, but no one was listening anymore. Soon, we were being led to cabins by the groups that we had been assigned. I was in a group with Thalia, Annabeth, and Selina.

I couldn't believe that I was that lucky, until Thalia leaned over and said, "All the demigods are on one side of the camp, so we have to be in the same cabin. It'll be easier for the Staff to protect us."

"So how many are we total?" I asked.

"Oh, maybe 40." Annabeth said. She seemed way more chipper after her conversation with Percy.

"I may owe you twenty bucks after this." I whispered to Thalia.

She winked at me.

When we got to the cabin, I was underwhelmed.

I was expecting a nice cabin with air conditioning and running water, but instead we were stuck with a rustic cabin near the edge of camp with an outhouse and a camp counselor who wouldn't show up until the next morning.

"This is nice," Selina commented sarcastically as she set her things down on a rusty bed.

"Leave it to a High School to pick the cheapest camp within the city limits." I deadpanned. This week was turning out to be great. At least I didn't have a dress so I wouldn't have to go to that stupid formal dance.

When I mentioned this happily to the others, they shot each other mischievous looks.

"About that, Alex..." Thalia started.

I scowled. "You didn't."

"We did." Selina said (a bit too happily for my taste).

I crossed my arms and sat dejectedly on my bed as Annabeth pulled out a dark red dress from her suitcase that looked to be about my size.

Back in December, after I figured out Zeus' plan for Liam to kill me, Annabeth, Thalia, and Selina took me to the mall the Saturday before Christmas to try and cheer me up. We had looked at a lot of shops with a lot of different things, but the one thing that caught my eye that wasn't on layover or out of stock was a dark red dress with a modest neckline that was exuberantly priced. If I had the money or the right occasion to wear it, I would have bought it.

"Lawrence and the three of us had a chat," Selina said.

I rubbed my forehead. The headache was gone, for the most part, but just thinking about how much money that must have cost gave me another one. I had never been someone who liked expensive things. I never could believe that some people actually liked getting the large, costly phones or watches back when I lived on the street, and I couldn't believe it now.

"What did you guys do?" I demanded.

"What does it look like? We got you a dress." Thalia shrugged.

"With Lawrence's money, of course," Annabeth added hastily.

I was speechless. On the one hand, I was pissed that I would have to go to that stupid dance, but on the other I ignored that part and was extraordinarily grateful that my friends and father had thought of me enough to get me something so nice.

"I—I don't know what to say." I stuttered. "Thank you guys so much."

Thalia shrugged again. "We only did so you'd have to—" Selina stomped on her foot. "Ow!"

I frowned at them, but I was too tired to care about what else was going on. I had gotten up too early that morning, and my head was still aching just a tiny bit. Maybe a nap would do me some good.

Or maybe not. As soon as my head touched the pillow on the bed that I had claimed, I fell asleep. Which of course meant that I had a dream.

In this dream, I was standing on the shore of an island. I only knew it was an island because I could see the beginning and the end of it. The island itself wasn't really anything special; just sand and a single palm tree that didn't contain any coconuts.

The water around it was the freaky part.

It was churning and almost seemed to be boiling. The water was an ugly red color, and after a moment, I realized that it wasn't water—it was blood.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, something stepped out of the water and stepped towards me. Or rather, someone.

Even though I had only seen her in a dream a month or two ago, I instantly recognized her. She had sparkling silver hair and a large spear twice the size that I was at her side. She was huge, standing at maybe eight feet tall. She wore strange silvery armor with the symbol of a wolf emblazoned on them. But despite the weight of her weapon and armor weighing her down, she walked gracefully towards me, blood dripping off of her.

I reached for my bow, but I realized I was defenseless. Instead, I decided to go on the verbal attack. "Who the hell are you and what do you want with me?"

The woman kept walking until she was right in front of me. I had to crane my neck to look up at her, which was no doubt a form of intimidation. When she spoke, it was not the harsh voice I expected. Instead, it was a soft purr, like that of a cat. "I am your mother's successor."

I scowled at her and tried not to show the fear of having her so close to me on my face. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The woman's voice never wavered. "I am Phoebe."

The name struck a chord, and I stepped away from the woman—from the _Titan_. Annabeth had told me about Phoebe.

Phoebe had been the Titan of the moon before the Titans had been overthrown. She was also the mother of Leto, who was the mother of my mother—which made her my great-grandmother. Annabeth had patiently explained to me that the Titans were dangerous and not to be trifled with. The fact that I had been dreaming about one was alarming.

"What. Do. You. Want?" I barked out, feeling distinctly liked a trapped animal.

Phoebe laughed, and it was a cold sound that sent shivers down my spine. "I _want_ my place in the universe back. I _want_ the destruction of my granddaughter—your mother."

"Why?"

Phoebe didn't answer, and I knew it was a stupid question. The gods were jealous and power-hungry; the Titans had been a thousand times worse. If Phoebe was really still alive and this wasn't just some figment of my imagination, then she would be furious that her power had been taken from her.

I tried again. "What do I have to do with that?"

Phoebe _tsk_ ed. "Not yet. You're not ready yet. Only when you are broken, and sent to your death will you know what I truly want."

Her words didn't make any sense. "What?"

Phoebe looked over her shoulder at the moon, which was a dark red. " _Pes geia sto oplo tis epilogis mou._ '

I woke with a start, my heart pounding out of my chest. The cabin was dark, and somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that it was night. Phoebe's words were still ringing in my ears.

 _Say hello to my weapon of choice._

x x x

I didn't get any more sleep that night. I didn't want to risk falling asleep and meeting Phoebe on that island again, so I forced myself to stay awake by reading _The Great Gatsby_ , a book for our English class. It was hard to understand, which kept my brain awake. When the others woke from their slumber, I was already dressed and ready to face the day—even if the memory of Phoebe make my hands shake.

Our counselor was a young twenty-something who had dark hair and smeared lipstick along with a slur that made me think she had spent the night with one of the other male counselors. Annabeth and Thalia had told me our counselor was not a demigod, so I didn't bother trying to get to know the woman. She freaked me out, and I didn't have much in common with mortals anyway.

Our drunken counselor—whose name was Debbie—led us to the dining pavilion. It had stopped raining at some point in the night, so the canvas cover had been removed. Our usual lunch table found a stone picnic one somewhere towards the back, where someone had set up a buffet bar. I wasn't sure where the electricity came from to power it, but the food was cold, so I was happy.

When I sat down with the others, a voice coughed from behind me. I turned in my seat to find Derek standing before us. One of his hands was in the pocket of his varsity jacket while the other was expertly balancing his tray of food. "Can I sit here?"

"Sure," I said, scooting over on the bench to make room for him. My head was aching from lack of sleep, so I was in no mood to refuse anyone.

"Who are you?" Liam asked Derek. He seemed confused.

Derek stuck out his hand for Liam to shake. "I'm Derek. I'm one of Alex's friends."

Liam's eyes looked between me and Derek for a moment before he hesitantly shook Derek's hand. "Then I guess it's nice to meet you."

"Derek is on the Cross Country team," Thalia said, spooning some yogurt into her mouth. "I'm surprised you haven't met him before."

That look of confusion flashed across Liam's face for a moment before it returned to normal. "Of course. Now I remember. You jumped the Jackson pole-vault, right?"

Derek nodded. "That was me."

"Hm." Liam seemed distracted by something and returned to his food. I chalked it up to his being tired and focused on consuming my own food.

After breakfast, the student body was split into groups. Our table was sent to the outdoor activities, which I was immensely grateful for. Being outdoors took my mind off of Phoebe and her threats towards my mother. Even so, as we walked towards a patch of pine trees, where the first activity was set up, I couldn't help but wonder: what place did I have in the Titan's plans? I had never even met my mother; why would the Titan appear to me in two dreams? What did I have to do with her?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as we reached the pine trees. My mood instantly improved when I saw what was set up there.

It was an archery range.

Instantly, I smiled. The one thing I was good at was one of the activities. I knew where I would be spending most of my day.

But my spirits declined when Liam whispered, "I hate to break this to you, but Chiron told us to dumn down our skills."

"What? Why?" I whispered back. He was very close and it was making it hard to think.

"Most of the demigods don't know who you or I are," he replied. "If they find out that you're Artemis' daughter, word could get back to my father."

"But the staff..." I started, but I knew he was right. That didn't stop me from being upset about it, however. I was not looking forward to spending the rest of the day learning to tie knots, or whatever else they had planned for us. I stepped away from him angrily and went to go talk to Derek, who was eying one of the stations apprehensively.

I peered at the sign, and it was a station about hunting. Well, my mother was goddess of the hunt. That couldn't be too bad, could it?

"Not good at hunting?" I asked Derek.

He shook his head. "I've never really killed anything before."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. Wasn't he supposed to be the son of Ares, god of war? "Not even monsters?"

He gave me a skeptical look. "Monsters don't count."

"Ah." I looked over at the station. "Well, let's give it a try."

I tried to battle off the headache and the growing sense of weariness and apprehensiveness as the day went on.

It didn't work.

x x x

I continued to have headaches for the rest of the week. Each night, I would collapse into bed, exhausted. And each night, Phoebe would appear in my dreams to taunt me. I would wake each morning feeling scared and confused, but I didn't tell Annabeth or Thalia what was going on. I was worried they would think it was something wrong with me, or that they would think I was too weak to handle it. In fact, as the week went on, I found it increasingly difficult to speak to them about the simplest things. Even Liam, whom I thought I could tell anything, seemed like a stranger to me. I wasn't sure if it was my fault or my friends'. The only person that seemed easy to talk to was Derek.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I understood that something was weird about the whole situation. But I was too tired and frustrated by my dreams and by the stupid activities of the camp and by the headaches that pestered me all day long to care. I needed to talk to _someone_ , and I would be damned if I was going to keep it all inside. So on Thursday, when Derek asked me to the dance, I didn't say no. I was too confused by my dreams, by my headaches, and by my lack of communication with my friends to do anything else.

The night before the dance was the roughest dream I'd ever had—and I'd had quite a few. Here's what happened:

I had been standing on the shore surrounded by boiling blood, and Phoebe had approached me just like she had in all my other dreams. Before I even turned around to face her, I shot her a lewd gesture. Even in my dream, I felt exhausted.

Phoebe laughed. "You realize that these dreams serve a purpose—I am not merely antagonizing you for pleasure."

"Yeah? What purpose is that?" I retorted. "To make me _want_ to kill you?"

Phoebe did not laugh, and her voice was deadly serious as she spoke. "You would not be able to kill me, child. Do not fool yourself."

I spat at her feet. "Try me."

Phoebe moved so fast that I didn't even have a chance to realize that she'd moved before her hands were at my throat and she was lifting me into the air, crushing all of the air out of my windpipe.

 _This is a dream_ , I thought with shock. _She shouldn't be able to touch me!_

Phoebe laughed again, a discordant sound. "No, you would not. And do you know why?" She brought my face closer as I kicked out at her. The attack didn't even make her flinch. "Not only am I the proper ruler of the moon, I am also the Titan of Prophecy."

 _Crap._

Chiron's words came back to me in a haze. _There was a prophecy, one I heard a long time ago. The prophecy is very old. I still don't completely understand what it means._

"You wouldn't stand a chance," Phoebe repeated. Then she smiled, and I shuddered even as she continued to choke the life out of me. It looked like the face of a wolf before it pounced. "I know all about you, and your weaknesses. When my weapon is done with you, you will be defenseless against me. And then all of Olympus shall fall!"

"Weaknesses?" I choked out, trying to give off an aura of arrogance as the edges of my vision grew dark. Could she actually kill me, or was this just part of the dream? "What weaknesses?"

Phoebe's eyes gleamed with the fervor of madness. She opened her mouth and began to recite.

 _"A half blood of the Forbidden God_

 _will reach sixteen against all odds_

 _And see her family throat to throat_

 _While ancestors stand by to gloat_

 _They shall enter the kingdom gone_

 _and find that which once lived on_

 _But there is a price to pay_

 _For that who kisses_

 _The maiden's bane."_

The words had a sort of weight to them, and I knew immediately that this was the prophecy that Chiron had heard.

Phoebe grinned again. "You will perish, little one."

I woke up gasping for air, feeling my lungs burn. I sucked air in as fast as I could, beginning to panic. I stumbled out of bed, not caring if I waked the others in the cabin. I staggered to one of the mirrors on the wall, and my eyes widened at what I saw.

On my neck, right where Phoebe had choked me, was the red mark of a hand, already beginning to bruise.

 **Once again: THE NEXT CHAPTER IS IN LIAM'S POV! This is for a specific purpose, as y'all will discover.**

 **ALSO:**

 **I understand if you guys want to chew me out for not updating for so long—and the best way to do that is through a review! ;)**


	26. LIAM FINALLY GETS THE SPOTLIGHT

**Alright, so I didn't receive any reviews telling me how much of a jerk I am for not updating for two years, so...I'm not sure whether to be happy that nobody told me that or sad because I didn't get any reviews.**

 **Anyway. I will say this one more time: THIS CHAPTER IS IN LIAM'S POV.**

 **Enjoy, dudes.**

* * *

 **Monday**

Liam was not happy.

The moment that Derek entered the picture, he could feel the winds changing. Liam had never really cared for Derek. But when the boy sat in front of Alex and introduced himself, Liam felt dislike coil in his stomach like a snake. That feeling only increased when Derek had the audacity to say, "It's not always awkward. Sometimes they know what they want." Liam about blew a gasket—Derek was _clearly_ flirting with her!

He knew he was jealous. He didn't like feeling that way, but it couldn't be helped. He made sure to look away so that nobody else would be able to guess it, however. Unfortunately, Beckendorf had always been too observant for his own good.

"It'll be fine," the large boy muttered to Liam. "You know she's crazy about you, right?"

Liam sent a glare Beckendorf's way. "You keep saying that, but I have yet to see any proof."

Beckendorf rolled his eyes, as he usually did whenever this topic came up. "You have all the evidence you need, but you refuse to look at it."

Maybe he was right. Maybe Liam _was_ too blinded by his unconfidence to see how she felt...but if he overstepped things, would she still be his friend? Liam didn't want to make things any weirder than they already were.

When Beckendorf went to go speak to Silena, and Thalia was asleep, Liam decided to test Beckendorf's theory. Maybe if Liam was sly, and created an innuendo, Alex would respond. Maybe.

There was only one way to find out.

So he sat next to her, his stomach full of butterflies as he did. "This is fun, right?"

She rolled her eyes—one green, one brown. "Yeah, except for the fact that I feel like Dr. Phil."

Liam bumped his shoulder into hers in an attempt to cheer her up. "Well, Doctor Phil is a pretty helpful guy."

She sighed. "I guess."

He didn't like it when she was down on herself, or when she felt bummed. For some odd reason, it made him feel bummed too. "Seriously. Before you got here, it felt like everyone was parked at a stop sign. Now you've got us all moving again. Heck, you even got Beckendorf and Silena together!"

This seemed to send her into a pensive mood. Liam wasn't sure if that was good or bad for what he was planning to do.

"So," he said cautiously. "You never told me about your friend Brandon."

Alex flinched, which was what he was afraid of. It _was_ a sensitive topic. "Yeah."

Liam began to fiddle with the ring on his finger. Sitting next to her, planning this conversation in his head...it was making him more nervous than he'd care to admit. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he had a massive crush on you."

She sighed and went on to tell him about how she had rejected Brandon when he told her how he felt. Liam didn't let it show on his face, but hearing this secretly gave him another jolt of anxiety. What if she did the same to him?

Well, that was what the test was for, wasn't it?

"...and I didn't even like him that way," she finished saying.

Liam swallowed. "So who _do_ you like that way?"

She didn't answer him.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

So they sat there in silence for a while, and Liam was silently beating himself up. He had allowed Beckendorf's theory to get his hopes up again, when he _knew_ it wouldn't work. Like Jake had told him—it was better to assume that you're wrong than right. At best, you would be pleasantly surprised. At worst, you wouldn't be surprised at all.

Jake had been a cynical thirteen-year-old.

And Liam had become cynical by listening to him.

 **Tuesday**

Liam felt like something was wrong.

It started when he rolled out of bed that morning, landing face-down on the cabin's hardwood floor. He had slept through the night—which was something he never did. Every demigod had weird dreams, but being the son of Zeus, Liam got them more than most. It was alarming that he had not experienced anything that night; almost like the forces that controlled his nightmares were focused somewhere else.

Then, of course, Liam realized he had forgotten a comb at home, so he had been forced to attend breakfast with his notorious bedhead.

Luckily, no one seemed to notice, and he was able to get through the buffet line for breakfast without too much incident. Beckendorf did give him an amused look, however. Liam ignored him.

But the _real_ trouble had started.

Alex looked like a mess—her eyes were bloodshot and there were ugly purple bags under her eyes. He had only seen her like that once before, after the incident with Chelsea. What was going on with her? Liam was worried, and looking around at the other faces as they sat at their picnic table, he could tell they were too.

"She was already awake when we woke up," Thalia muttered to him as they sat. "Do you think she had a nightmare?"

Liam shook his head to signal that he wasn't sure. Maybe the forces behind his nightmares _had_ been busy somewhere else—and that thought disturbed him.

Then, of course, Derek had appeared, with his smug face and his stupid varsity jacket. "Can I sit here?" He asked, but it seemed like he was only talking to Alex and not to the rest of the group.

"Sure," she muttered, making room for him.

Liam felt annoyance tug at him as Derek sat down, sending an almost gloating look towards him.

"Who are you?" Liam asked, not bothering to mask the suspicion and confusion in his voice.

He knew who the athlete was, of course. But Derek was used to people knowing him everywhere in high school—let him think that he wasn't world famous for once.

Derek stuck out his hand for Liam to shake. "I'm Derek. I'm one of Alex's friends."

 _I doubt that,_ Liam thought before he could stop himself. Jealousy wrapped itself around his stomach. He quickly looked between the two of them, trying to gauge their relationship, before he realized that he still hadn't shaken Derek's hand. He did so reluctantly.

"Then I guess it's nice to meet you," he said, forcing some enthusiasm into his voice.

Nobody except Beckendorf (who shot Liam a sympathetic look) seemed to notice.

"Derek's on the Cross Country team," Thalia said as she ate with her mouth open. "I'm surprised you haven't met him before."

 _What_?

Liam forced the confusion in his face away as concern flashed in his core. "Of course. Now I remember. You jumped the Jackson pole-vault, right?"

Derek hesitated just for a moment. "That was me."

"Hm."

 _Liar._

Liam kept silent as they finished breakfast, but as they got up to leave, he pulled Percy and Beckendorf aside.

"Something is wrong with Derek," he hissed to them.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I've been on the Cross Country team since I got to the school. I've never _once_ seen Derek at any of the practices or meets. And pole-vaulting? That's a track event. He's lying." Liam spoke fast, afraid that the words would somehow harm him. He was extremely worried—why was Derek lying, and why was he trying to get closer to Alex?

Beckendorf's eyes were wide, as were Percy's. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Liam exclaimed, a little louder than he meant to. He lowered his voice as some of Clarisse's goons looked over. "You don't think he's a monster, do you?"

"Annabeth has the Staff," Percy shook his head. "He can't be a monster, not while that thing is around."

Liam suddenly remembered Frederick and Brandon, and how eager the fellow demigods had been to deliver Alex to Zeus. "He could be working for my father."

Percy frowned. "We need to talk to the others."

So they did, and Annabeth looked particularly concerned, especially when Thalia continued to insist that Derek _had_ indeed been on the Cross Country team. It took five minutes to convince Liam's half-sister as they walked towards the outdoor activities that she was mistaken—which was alarming. Thalia was one of the most observant people Liam knew. What did it mean if Derek could deceive her so well?

"You don't think he's a charm-speaker, do you?" Grover asked, pulling himself forward on the crutches he used in the presence of mortals.

Annabeth shook her head. "He's a son of Ares."

"He could be lying," Percy suggested. "Maybe he's actually Aphrodite's kid."

"Maybe," she said, but the tone in her voice made it clear that she wasn't sure. "We should keep an eye on him. And Alex. If he really is a charm-speaker, then she won't know she's being manipulated."

That thought sent a chill through Liam, and he immediately wanted to run to Alex and make sure she understood the danger she was in. He wanted to protect her. With difficulty, he wrestled the impulse down somewhat. The best way to protect her was to figure out what Derek's game plan was and put a stop to it before she could get hurt.

But he couldn't stop himself from walking close beside her as they approached their activity for the day. He saw her eyes light up at the sight of the archery range, and his stomach twisted as he remembered what Chiron had told them.

She seemed frustrated when he told her that she couldn't use the archery range—or at least, that she couldn't use it as well as she could have. His heart gave a painful twinge as she approached Derek and said something to him. They approached one of the other stations together while Liam watched dejectedly.

Derek had to be a charm-speaker. There was no way Alex could actually be interested in that jerk, right? He was arrogant and popular and everything that she hated.

"Don't worry," Beckendorf said, clapping Liam on the shoulder in an attempt to cheer him up. "We'll get this sorted out."

Liam just hoped it didn't take Alex getting hurt for that to happen.

For the rest of the day, the group watched Derek and Alex carefully—she seemed to be oblivious to whatever he had planned. But as Liam watched, it was blatantly obvious that Derek was charm-speaking.

"Grape crush!" Alex exclaimed at lunch, when she saw the drinks that some of the counselors had supplied.

Liam smiled as he watched her pour herself a large glass. Alex _loved_ Grape Crush—whenever it was present, she typically drank all of it very quickly.

Derek narrowed his eyes at her. "Grape Crush is bad for you. You don't want to drink that."

Alex winced even as she brought the cup to her lips—like she had received a massive headache. She stared at the cup with something close to disgust. "I don't want to drink this."

Liam clenched his fists and turned to the others. "Does anyone know how to break a charm?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know." She seemed troubled by that fact.

Beckendorf looked up from his food. "Silena might."

"Good idea," Thalia said. "We need to stop that jerk from controlling our friend as soon as possible."

 **Wednesday**

Unfortunately, Silena was nowhere to be found on Tuesday—apparently, she had been busy convincing the Ares and Aphrodite kids not to murder each other. Well, to keep the Ares kids from hurting the Aphrodite kids. The Aphrodite kids just threatened to curse their love lives.

They managed to find her Wednesday morning, and they skipped breakfast to try and come up with a plan, meeting in the boys' cabin.

"So you think Derek is...what?" Silena asked, sitting on a bed next to Beckendorf. "My half-brother?"

"It's the only possible explanation," Liam responded. "You've seen how different she is."

It was true. Alex had been spending less and less time with them and more with Derek. She even laughed at his stupid jokes! If Liam had said anything like that, she would have sent him one of her famous glares.

Silena seemed to think about it for a moment, but then she shook her head. "I don't think so. I know all of my siblings—we all look alike, too. Not only does Derek look nothing like us, I know that he has no interest in what the rest of us care about."

That seemed to make sense. While Derek may have been a pretentious snob in Liam's opinion, he didn't seem to fuss over his appearance (at least, not as much as the other Aphrodite children).

"But he's clearly charm-speaking!" Thalia exclaimed. "Who else would be able to do that?"

Silena frowned. "If we didn't have the Staff of Soteria, I would say an empousai."

Silence struck through the cabin as her words sunk in. Luckily, Liam didn't worry about them for too long. They had the Staff; there was no possible way for a monster to get in! Besides, all empousai were female—everyone knew that. And empousai needed to feed frequently. Nobody at the school had gone missing lately.

"What _is_ he?" Percy demanded.

"I wish there was some kind of way we could snap Alex out of it," Beckendorf said. "A way to make her wake up."

Silena sat up straight in her seat. "There is a way."

"How?" Liam asked.

"I don't charm-speak to people often," she said, "but when I do, they usually only snap out of it when something shocks them. When they're surprised, I mean."

"That could work," Annabeth said. "Between the six of us, I bet we could find a way to startle her."

Liam laughed. "Have any of you met Alex? She isn't going to be easy to surprise." With the way she had grown up, nothing short of throwing her off a building was going to startle her.

"We'll think of something," Percy insisted, but he didn't look so sure.

When they returned to the school body for their daily activity, Liam was surprised to find a strange station set up. There was a table with a series of carving knives on them, and a pile of wood nearby. On the table, several examples of wood carvings could be seen, from an image of a bear to a salmon.

Liam smiled. Finally, something he was good at.

Wood carving was something that Liam had picked up when he had been six-years old. His grandfather had taught it to him, before his untimely passing. Liam had practiced wood carving ever since, trying to achieve the artistry with which his grandfather had created his best pieces. He still wasn't there yet, but he wasn't exactly a novice, either.

Liam was barely listening as one of the counselors explained how to properly carve without harming oneself. He made sure to pick a seat next to Alex, and Beckendorf picked the one next to her so that Derek would be forced to sit somewhere else. It worked, and the athlete had a sour look on his face as he sat five seats farther down.

Liam felt a surge of satisfaction. Good.

As Liam worked on his carving, he tried to figure out a decent way to startle Alex without harming her. Unfortunately, most of the solutions he came up with involved stepping on her toes or getting his face punched in.

He didn't even realize what exactly he was carving until it was too late. It wasn't a bad carving—in fact, it was one of his better pieces. The detail was good, and he could almost imagine it standing over them. But it was not something he would have carved in public.

It was a pine tree. More accurately, it was the pine tree Alex had described in Central Park—the one she had lived in for several years, and the one she always smelled like. Seriously, did she rub pine needles on her skin every morning or something?

He wasn't sure if it was a good thing when Alex looked over and saw what he had made. She seemed fascinated by his skill with the carving knife.

"That's really good," Alex told him, looking impressed.

Liam felt a flash of pride. But then he got an idea.

"Here," he said, handing it to her. "It's yours."

Her eyes widened. "Seriously?" Her eyes betrayed her surprise.

Which was exactly what Liam was counting on.

"Of course," he told her, closing her fingers around the carving.

All at once, it was like a cloud had been lifted from her eyes. She looked around at her surroundings with blatant confusion. It was just as Liam had expected: emotional surprise would work just as well as physical surprise. Alex turned back to him and opened her mouth to say something.

But then Derek was there, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What's that?"

The cloud had veiled her eyes again. "Nothing," she said as she slipped the carving into the pocket of her jacket. She muttered something under her breath and then stood from the table, walking over to the outhouse.

Liam couldn't help his frustration from spilling out of his mouth.

"What is your problem?" He demanded of Derek as he stood, facing the imposter. He noticed with a flash of annoyance that the athlete was an inch or two taller than him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Derek replied, but something in his eyes reminded Liam of a snake. "I'm just looking out for Alex. That's more than I can say for you, isn't it, Zeus's son?"

A wave. A _wave_ of anger crashed over Liam and settled into every fiber of his being. How could Derek have known about Zeus's orders for Liam? Unless...he had somehow convinced Alex to tell him.

It took every ounce of Liam's control to keep his fist from slamming into Derek's smug face, but he couldn't help the words from slipping out in a low growl. "You don't know what you're talking about, jackass."

Then something strange happened. At the word "jackass," Derek seemed to have a breakdown. He covered his ears with his hands and stumbled, letting out a strange, high-pitched sound. It sounded almost like...like a screech.

Liam was too shocked to say anything else as Derek cursed at him and then ran off after Alex.

Liam looked at the others, who all looked equally as surprised. "Did you just hear that?"

Annabeth nodded. "Empousai."

They all skipped lunch to talk about it, returning to the boys' cabin in a state of confusion.

"What the heck just happened?" Grover demanded, bleating nervously. He had abandoned his crutches at the entrance to the cabin and was pacing with his goat legs out.

"I don't know how," Annabeth started cautiously, "but somehow an empousai snuck past the barrier that the Staff emits."

"But I thought Empousai were female!" Silena exclaimed. "Why is this one male?"

"I'm not sure," Annabeth replied. "But obviously the male versions can affect females and not other males."

"What does this one want with Alex?" Liam asked. He couldn't stop the worry that was gnawing at him from sneaking into his voice. Empousai were deadly, and incredibly manipulative.

"She's the 'Forbidden Child,' right?" It was Beckendorf. "Wasn't there some weird prophecy about her? Monsters are drawn to those like a bee to honey. Besides, she's Artemis' daughter. Let's not all forget the death warrant out on her head."

"But why manipulate her?" Thalia asked. "Why not just kill her? What is Derek's plan?"

"Alex must have something that Derek needs," Annabeth said, crossing her arms and looking deep in thought.

"What are we waiting for?" Liam demanded, starting to stand. "Let's go kill him before he can hurt her!"

Percy grabbed Liam's arm and forced him to sit back down. "We can't."

"Derek has control of her," Annabeth finished. "If we attack him, he could try and use Alex as a shield, or order her to attack, or make her hurt herself. We have to break the charm first."

Liam ran his hands through his hair. He _hated_ this.

"We'll help her," Beckendorf assured him.

"Hopefully," Grover added. They all glared at him. "What?"

Liam forced himself to take a deep breath. He was _not_ going to abandon Alex. He'd rather die.

 _And,_ he thought, _I just might have to_.

 **Thursday**

They had skipped their activity for the day trying to come up with a plan. There were several ideas, but ultimately, they came up with two. The first was milder, and the second...well, that was a last resort.

For some reason, the others had decided that Liam was key to the plan after what he had told them about emotional surprises. He wasn't sure why he was deemed so crucial, but the others seemed to know what they were doing. He trusted them.

Liam adjusted his shirt uncomfortably as he walked to where he had asked Alex to meet him. It was the middle of the night, but oddly his IM hadn't woken her. She had been rubbing her neck sorely, and she seemed very awake. But she had agreed to meet him either way, and once she had left the cabin, the other girls had ceased their pretending-to-be-asleep act and gathered for the execution of the plan.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" He whispered to Annabeth as they approached the grove of pine trees.

"You'll be fine," she said. "Besides, it's not like it's for real, or anything. You have nothing to be nervous about."

 _That's what you think_.

Liam swallowed and nodded as she ran off to join the others in their hiding place. It was easy for _her_ to say; she'd never had to do anything like this before.

Liam was dressed in a nice polo shirt that Silena had stolen from one of her brothers. It was a dark blue and made of a silky fabric, which made Liam feel out of place. He couldn't afford a nice shirt like that. He'd told the others that it was overkill to have him dress so nicely, but they insisted he had to look the part. So he had combed his hair and placed his dress shoes on without complaint. This plan of theirs had better work.

There was already a small campfire burning in the clearing, a sure sign that Alex was already there, and her shadow confirmed it. Overhead, large pine trees stood guard, seeming almost sinister in the dark light. Liam took a breath to steel himself before he stepped into the clearing.

The first thing he noticed was that she was still fully dressed, even though he had woken her in the middle of the night with his Iris Message. She was wearing her Nemean's Lion pelt/jacket tight around herself, clearly chilly in the night's frigid air, which was odd—Liam was wearing nothing but a simple polo shirt and he still wasn't cold. He didn't have time to think much further on it before she turned around, and he gasped.

"Oh my gods, are you all right?" he asked her, rushing over to make sure she was fine, concern making his body crackle with electricity. That happened sometimes when he got upset—a side affect of being the son of Zeus, he supposed.

She backed away from him, allowing the firelight to more clearly illuminate the dark bruise on her neck in the shape of a large handprint. It looked like somebody had choked her. "I'm fine." Her voice came out in a croak.

Liam felt a miasma of emotions roll over him: concern for her injury, hurt that she had backed away from him, confusion, and finally outrage.

"Who did this to you?" he demanded, feeling his lip curl with anger. "Was it Derek?"

"What?" Alex said, her mismatched eyes flashing with confusion. "No! I...I accidentally wrapped my sheets around my neck while I was sleeping and they choked me."

She was lying and they both knew it. Liam wasn't sure what to do; he wanted to keep pushing her until she told him, but that might make her storm off, and then the plan would be ruined. But if he went ahead with the plan, would that make him appear insensitive?

Liam mentally sighed. This was why he was no good with women.

"I just want to make sure you're okay," he decided on saying, taking another step forward. She didn't back away, but that could have been because her back was to the campfire.

"I...I'm fine," she said again, but there was a trace of doubt to her voice. She coughed. "What did you call me here for?"

"Right," Liam said, feeling his anxiety spike. "That."

 _It's not real_ , he reminded himself. _You're not actually asking her._

But he wanted to, and that was what was making him nervous.

"I...was wondering," he started, trying to lace his voice with a confidence he did not feel, "if you...would be i-interested in..."

 _Spit it out!_ he told himself. He took a moment to steady himself and then pushed the words out of his mouth.

"I was wondering if you would go with the dance with me tomorrow."

He winced as he saw the surprise on her face, but then he panicked. She was nowhere near as surprised as they expected her to be! It was obvious in the way she crossed her arms, a sympathetic look on her face.

 _Oh no_ , Liam thought.

"Liam," Alex started softly. "Derek already asked me, and...I didn't say no."

Liam's panic quickly turned to surprise of his own. Why would an empousai be interested in going to a dance with her? What was Derek planning?

But then his heart sunk when he realized the second part of her sentence: _I didn't say no._

It was like all the energy had been sapped from his limbs. "Oh," he said lamely, hearing the disappointment in his own voice.

He tried to tell himself that it was just Derek's charm-speaking that had persuaded her, but he couldn't help the soreness where his heart was. After everything, he thought...but he thought wrong.

"I—" Alex started, but Liam cut her off.

"You don't have to explain," he said. He didn't care if he sounded bitter.

"Liam..." She said, and for once she sounded like herself. That only made Liam feel worse. "I don't—"

Something shot through the night, interrupting her. An arrow slammed into Liam's chest, surprising him so much that he fell backwards onto the ground. A moment later, something red spread across his borrowed shirt.

" _Liam!_ " Alex screamed, rushing over to him.

 _Well_ , Liam thought, _I guess we're going with this plan after all_.

This plan had been ruled out as too risky, but obviously someone in the group had changed their mind when Alex failed to snap out of it. Liam himself had disagreed with it, not liking the deception of the plan. Or the obvious that could go wrong: someone could actually end up shooting him.

Luckily, that didn't seem to be a problem. The fake blood pack they had bought from a child of Hermes seemed to be doing the trick, but the arrow sticking out of his chest seemed to be very real. It was a good thing he had worn a small plate of armor underneath his clothes, otherwise he might have actually been shot. Liam closed his eyes, but opened them just slightly to watch Alex's reaction.

She scrambled over to his side, kneeling in the dirt beside him. Her eyes were wide with panic, and he could see the beginnings of her awareness returning. But he was surprised when tears started rolling down her face. He had never seen her openly cry, not once.

But she was crying now, shaking his body in an attempt to make him wake up. "No, no, no!"

 _Maybe she does care._

Liam felt guilt stab at him. He felt terrible for deceiving her in such a way, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice.

 _It's for her own good,_ he tried to tell himself. It didn't work.

Finally, the tears stopped flowing, and stark fury replaced them. Alex's brow furrowed, and she growled a single name under her breath. " _Derek_."

"Alex!" Annabeth's voice called as she stepped out of the wilderness, followed by the rest of their group. "It's all right! He's fine."

"Annabeth?" Alex asked, standing. The fake blood stained her hands. "What are you talking about? Liam..." She turned back to him suddenly, narrowing her eyes at his body.

 _Crap_ , Liam thought, right before she kicked him in the ribs.

" _Liam!_ " Alex screamed, but there was only anger in her voice this time.

Liam groaned as he stood up, removing the arrow and the fake blood pack from his chest as he did so. He needed a shower. "Heya—"

But he didn't have a chance to finish his sentence before he had a mouthful of red hair as she hugged him fiercely. He returned it, but she quickly turned away, her face consumed with fury.

"Never do that to me again!"

 **Please review even if you're telling me that I'm a jerk thanks**


	27. I WRECK A DANCE

**I hope I made you guys squirm with that last chapter. It was something I envisioned when I first dreamed up this story, so I hope you guys enjoyed it.**

 **Fair warning: Alex is a badass in this chapter. Hopefully.**

* * *

I hated dresses.

I can't believe how easily I forgot how much I hated them. They were too open, too revealing. It made me feel uncomfortable to wear them. I much preferred pants and a hoodie. Still, I didn't think I looked half bad.

I observed myself in the mirror of the cabin as the others finished getting ready. My hair had grown longer, almost down to the small of my back. It hung down my back in crimson waves, only adding to my uncomfortableness. There was a reason I always wore my hair in a ponytail—otherwise it just got in my way. The red dress that my friends had bought for me was modest—which was the only thing I was actually comfortable with. The dark red of the dress contrasted with the pale of my skin, however, which made me look like a vampire. My asymmetrically colored eyes stared back at me tiredly, but luckily the makeup that Annabeth and Thalia had supplied me with hid the dark bags underneath my eyes. Yet another thing I realized I hated, but the others were adamant: Derek had to believe that he had changed me with his charm-speaking.

I was pissed. I couldn't _believe_ I had been so stupid as to let a freaking _empousai_ get close to me, and to charm-speak me into going to a dance with him! No, scratch that. I was _beyond_ pissed. I wanted to tear Derek's head off and stomp on it.

I forced myself to calm down. It was better to save that anger for later, when I was actually facing Derek. Luckily, the others had accepted my apologies, or I might have gone after Derek the moment I was free from his control.

The makeup also hid the dark bruise on my neck from where Phoebe had choked me. When I told the others about the dreams I'd been having, they were concerned—and rightly so. Not only had I been having dreams about a Titan, and not only had she attacked me when she shouldn't have been able to, she also knew the prophecy that Chiron hadn't told me. Or anyone else in the group, for that matter. But we had been forced to push that information aside for later; we had to focus on defeating the empousai that had snuck past the aura of protection that the Staff of Soteria provided.

Debbie, our counselor, was passed out on her bed. The others were distracted with their own dresses and makeup, so I took a moment to examine the scars on my back. Frederick had bestowed them upon me during his various beatings, and I had lost count of how many there were. They were ugly, red lines crisscrossing over my shoulders and most of my mid and lower back. Luckily, the dress seemed to hide most of them, but a few were still visible.

I shrugged my dark brown leather coat over my shoulders to hide them. It was better, but the brown of the coat contrasted with the red of the dress. Besides, if Derek knew about my coat and saw me wearing it to the dance, he might get suspicious. I would have to go without.

I sighed. "I wish there was some way for you to change color," I said to the coat.

But then I gasped. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, the coat began to shift, changing color and shape. There was a moment where I could see the silver pelt of a lion around my shoulders, but then the image changed again and it became a blazer that was the exact shade of red as my dress.

"Oh," I said. I was too surprised to say anything else. And too tired.

"Are you ready?" Thalia asked me. She was, unsurprisingly, wearing a black dress with her typical goth makeup. The wristband that contained her shield was on her wrist, mirroring the watch on my own.

"Yeah," I said. I shifted my dress and then fidgeted with my hair. "I think."

"You look fine," she assured me. "Derek won't be able to tell that anything is wrong."

 _I hope,_ I added to myself. I would rather die than be controlled by that demon again. I could remember everything he had said to me, and I could remember _wanting_ to do it, while another part of me screamed for control. There was no way in hell I was reliving that.

A knock on the front door of the cabin.

"Who is it?" Thalia yelled. I winced, and she sent me an apologetic look.

"It's us," Percy's voice came. "Are you guys ready yet? The dance starts in like ten minutes."

Thalia rolled her eyes and opened the door. I couldn't see outside, but mostly because I didn't want to. I was too uncomfortable in my own dress; I didn't want anyone else to see me just yet.

"Come on sis," another voice whined. "Tell the girls to hurry up!"

"Crap," I muttered, pressing myself against the wall of the cabin so that Liam couldn't see me. I definitely didn't want _him_ to see me when I looked like an idiot.

It was him that I felt like I had to apologize to the most. Derek had purposefully manipulated me into giving Liam the cold shoulder—possibly because the empousai knew about how I feel.

I forced myself to concentrate on something else. Anything else.

"We're ready!" Annabeth called as she and Selina walked up to the door. Annabeth was wearing a light blue dress and Selina a purple one. I heard what sounded like a cough from Percy when he saw Annabeth and smiled.

Thalia looked over at me. "Alex, you can't hide here forever."

"Watch me!" I called back, but I was already walking dejectedly towards the door.

"You look great," Beckendorf told Selina, smiling at her.

I looked nervously at the group of boys waiting for us, hoping that _he_ hadn't seen me yet. That hope was unfounded. Liam was staring at me, his jaw open. His face seemed red, and I wondered if he had run to the cabin for some reason.

"Do I really look that bad?" I asked him, looking down at myself nervously.

"What?" He asked. His jaw snapped shut, but his face only seemed to become more red. "No! You...you look amazing."

His words sent a thrill of heat through me, even though it was only fifty degrees outside. Despite my best wishes, a blush began to spread across my face. It was then that I noticed what he was wearing: a dark green suit and tie. It wasn't particularly fancy, but for some reason seeing him in it made the room feel a thousand degrees hotter.

 _Focus!_ I told myself. I was only wearing the dress to trick Derek, not to see the way that Liam's eyes lit up when he saw me in it. I needed to focus on the plan. What was the plan again?

I tried to concentrate as I swept past him and outside.

He smelled like green apples.

Damn it!

Thalia seemed amused by something as she sidled up next to me, but I ignored her.

I sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

 **x x x**

The school had turned the dining pavilion into a dance floor. It was a little awkward, considering that the "dance floor" was made of cement and surrounded by picnic tables that had been pushed together. There was loud music playing, and only a few people were dancing—the rest were stuffing their faces at the buffet line or making out where the lights couldn't reach them. It was night, since it had taken everyone most of the day to get ready.

Derek was waiting for us. He was wearing a simple black suit. The sight of him made my blood boil, but I kept it from my face. Instead, I forced myself to smile at him. The plan only worked if he thought I was under his control.

I hated the plan.

"You look fantastic," Derek told me as I took his arm. My skin crawled. Liam rolled his eyes.

"Thank you," I said, trying not to let my disgust show in my voice. "Can you get me a drink?"

"Of course," Derek said. He vanished into the crowd.

"When can we kill him?" I asked.

"When Beckendorf and Silena set off the distraction," Liam told me. "Relax."

"That's easy for you to say, zombie-boy."

"Don't call me that!" Liam was smiling.

"He's coming back!" Thalia said. "Stop being so chummy! He has to think you hate each other!"

"Right," I said, stepping on Liam's toes right as Derek came back into sight.

This seemed to please the empousai in disguise. "Here," he said, handing me my drink.

"Thank you," I said, plastering on another fake smile. When he wasn't looking, I dumped the drink in the grass. Beckendorf's distraction could not come soon enough.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the music changed. Instead of the upbeat, fast music that had been playing, slow dance music began to blast out over the speakers. On the makeshift dance floor, people began dancing in couples.

I cursed under my breath.

"Can you get me a cookie?" I asked Derek before he could say anything. He seemed frustrated, but he nodded and disappeared into the crowd once more.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth hissed to me, materializing as soon as Derek was gone. "He has to believe that you're interested in him!"

"What am I supposed to do?" I demanded. "Make googly eyes at him? He's going to ask me to dance when he gets back—I'm not doing that."

"You have to!" Thalia said, crossing her arms. Beside her, Grover bleated nervously.

"I'm not going to dance with him!" I grit my teeth. "I don't think you guys realize how _disgusting_ this is for me!"

"You think I—I mean, we—like making you do this?" Liam said irritably. He was scratching at his collar. "I don't like it any more than you do, but he has to think he's tricked you."

I growled something else that was very unladylike under my breath and took a step away from them as Derek approached.

"Cookies are bad for you," Derek said. "I got you an apple instead. You like it."

I could feel his words sticking their slimy fingers in my brain, and I stuck my hands into the pockets of my blazer—where the carving Liam had given me was waiting. When I touched the wood of the pine tree, Derek's words seemed to lose power over me.

But I had to act like they didn't. I smiled another fake smile at him and batted my eye lashes. "Of course I like it!" He handed me the apple and I took a bite out of it.

Ugh. Granny Smith. I _hated_ Granny Smith apples.

I swallowed the bite of apple and pretended to like it. I'd been at the dance for a total of five minutes and already I was ready to kill either Derek or myself.

"Care to dance?" Derek asked me, just as I predicted he would. Now that I wasn't under his spell, I could see the calculation behind his brown eyes—clearly, asking me to dance was part of his plan. What exactly was his plan anyways?

 _Say hello to my weapon of choice._

I chilled as I remembered the words Phoebe had spoken to me. What if Derek wasn't working for Zeus...but for my great-grandmother?

"Alex?" Derek repeated, charm-speak slipping into his voice when he saw my hesitation. "You want to dance with me, don't you?"

I gripped the pine tree carving in my pocket tightly. "Yeah. Let's dance."

I laced my arm through Derek's, cursing him in my mind all the while, and he led me to the dance floor. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Thalia and Liam following from a distance. Good—at least they weren't making me deal with this douchebag alone.

Derek picked a spot on the edge of the dance floor and placed his hands on my waist. I wanted to impale him. I placed my own hands around his neck and struggled not to strangle him.

 _Come on,_ I thought. _Where's the distraction?_ If it turned out that Beckendorf and Silena were making out somewhere instead of going through with the plan, I was going to kill them right after I killed Derek.

As we danced, I could have sworn I saw the gears turning in Derek's head. He was trying to figure out why I was different—I needed to be more convincing.

"You look nice," I said to him. "Very handsome." I thought he looked like a prick.

His eyes lit up, but not in the boyish way that Liam's had. Instead, it was with a cold light. He thought he was manipulating me well.

 _Well, two can play at that game._

I saw Liam and Thalia a few feet away. Thalia was making a motion with her hands that took me a moment to comprehend. She was tapping her wrist, where her watch was. _More time_.

"Do you know what song this is?" I asked Derek. "I like it." I hated it.

"I don't like music," Derek said. "Music is stupid."

I was trapped. I couldn't place my hands in my pocket to find the pine tree to throw off Derek's influence; he would know something was wrong. I obviously couldn't let him into my head again, not even for something this small. So instead, I searched the crowd until I saw Liam.

He was already looking at me, looking upset. But when our eyes met, he sent me an encouraging smile. It made my stomach warm, and I used that to fend off Derek's charm-speak.

Derek must have noticed that I wasn't looking at him, and he began to turn, but I shifted our position suddenly so that Liam was in front of me and behind Derek.

"You look great," Derek told me. "That dress is almost as pretty as you are."

It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. How long did it take guys to realize that lines like that didn't work?

I held my breath to make my face redden. "Thank you."

Derek seemed to take this the wrong way. Or rather, the right way, since I was trying to con him. He closed his eyes and began to lean in.

I gagged. There was no way in _hell_ I was kissing this slimeball. I leaned my head back to give me some more time to think of an excuse, but luckily somebody else was already ahead of me.

"Woah!" Liam said, tripping into Derek, splitting us apart and spilling a cup of punch on him. "Sorry, man. I didn't see you there." Liam winked at me, and relief washed over me in waves. Gods, this boy was amazing.

"Watch where you're going!" Derek exclaimed, looking down at his ruined suit and shoving Liam.

"I said sorry," Liam said. He sounded completely unsorry.

"Ugh!" Derek said, shaking out his sleeves. Fruit punch flew off of him in little droplets. Liam really hadn't held back. I resisted the urge to grin. "Your father would be disappointed."

Liam's smile immediately faded. "What did you just say?"

Derek straightened, emboldened by Liam's offense. "You heard me."

Liam stepped forward, and I could sense a murderous intent flowing off of his body in waves. "Good. Let my father be disappointed."

Derek open his mouth to respond, but luckily before things could escalate further, an explosion ripped through the night.

There was a massive _BANG!_ and then somebody screamed. But then laughter followed soon after—because it wasn't an explosion. It was fireworks.

The image of a dragon lit up the sky—and it even seemed to spread its wings before disappearing. More followed soon after, each more fantastical than the last.

"Look!" a voice voice cried, and I realized it was Grover's. "There are more over here!"

The rest of the students, fascinated, followed him, wanting to see more of the fireworks light up the sky. In a few moments, the pavilion was empty. Beckendorf's distraction had worked. The only ones left were me, Liam, Derek, Thalia, Annabeth, and Percy. Derek's back was turned, and I immediately turned my watch into a bow. My blazer transformed back into a dark brown leather jacket.

"Great!" I exclaimed gleefully, slamming my bow into the back of Derek's head.

He stumbled to the ground, hitting his head against the pavement. In the moment it took for him to regain his bearings, I tore off my dress to reveal the green denim shorts and black tank-top I had on underneath. I _hated_ dresses. Besides, it was easier to kill monsters this way. It took but a moment for me to put my hair into a ponytail as well. There. That was better.

"Alex?" Derek asked, scrambling to his feet. He was bleeding from a cut in his forehead. "What the hell?"

"Haven't you heard?" Liam said, grinning as he turned his ring into a sword. "You've been dumped."

Derek looked between me and the rest of the group, which had formed a protective circle around me.

He laughed, and it reminded me of Phoebe's—there was no mirth to it, and it made me shudder. "Oh, this is rich. You've finally figured it out."

"Shut up," I barked at him, allowing my rage to finally simmer to the surface. "You controlled me. You're not going to say anything else."

Derek laughed again. "Oh, no. I didn't control you. I just told you things you already knew were true."

"Save it," Annabeth told the empousai. "You all say the same things. You and all the other monsters."

It was true. Chelsea had said similar things when she had been pretending to be my friend. Why were mosnters always trying to separate me from my friends?

Derek quirked an eyebrow. "Monster? No, I'm not a monster." He hesitated. "Well, only half monster."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded before I could stop myself. "You're an empousai."

Derek smirked. "Like I said, only partly. Do you know who created the empousai?"

"Hecate," I replied, not sure where he was going. I notched an arrow to my bow just in case, itching to put it through his face but curious to hear what he had to say.

"You could say she was their mother," Derek said. "The funny thing about empousai is that they always focus on seducing men, but nobody ever thinks about what happens when they succeed."

His words took a moment to sink in. "Wha—" I started, shock striking through me.

"You're half empousai," Annabeth said, saying the realization aloud. She gasped. " _That's_ how you got past the Staff of Soteria!"

It made sense. If Hecate was the mother of empousai, and Derek was the son of one...then technically he did have the blood of an olympian in him. It was a stupid technicality, and I cursed the Staff inwardly.

"Tricky thing, that," Derek admitted, still grinning evilly. "I almost didn't make it. But here I _am!"_

He dashed suddenly to the right, and I released my arrow. It missed him by mere centimeters as he grabbed a stone bench and threw it.

 _I didn't know empousai could do that!_ I thought dumbly. _No fair!_

I rolled forward as my friends scattered behind me, leaving me face to face with Derek.

He lunged forward, claws extended, and I barely caught them on the metal part of my bow. He had transformed into his true form. The color had been drained from his skin, leaving him paler than a corpse. His hair was a small halo of flames—nowhere near as much as a normal empousai but still enough to be intimidating. Only one of his legs was different—he had a dark black donkey leg that peeked out from under his dress pants. Long claws the size of my longest finger extended from his hands, threatening to slice me to ribbons as I struggled to push them back on my bow. With an effort, I kicked out at his donkey knee and felt an enormous amount of satisfaction as he cried out and fell to one knee.

I whipped my bow across his face, sending him sprawling. Before I could finish him with an arrow, however, something swept into my legs and sent me crashing to the ground.

I really hated Derek.

Before I had a chance to stand, something sharp sliced into my leg. Instinctively, I kicked out, feeling a _crunch_ underneath my foot.

 _BOOM!_

The sound of thunder crackling sliced through the night, followed by the scent of burning hair. I saw something bright blue arc over my head towards Derek. He cried out again, and I smiled as I stood.

Liam and Thalia had come to the rescue.

They were standing side by side in the center of the pavilion, electricity crackling off of their bodies like they were exposed wires. Their eyes burned with cold rage and seemed to be filled with lightning. As one, they lifted their hands, and thunder arced from their bodies.

Unfortunately, Derek was not an idiot. His clothes were singed, but other than that he seemed to be fine. Every time that Liam and Thalia hurled thunder at him, he either jumped out of the way or threw something else in the lightning's path. It was an effective strategy, and it annoyed me. How agile could one half-monster be?

Percy and Annabeth both charged at Derek, obviously feeling the same frustration that I was. Unfortunately, this placed them in the line of fire, which meant that Liam and Thalia had to switch back to the old sword and spear.

I fired arrow after arrow at Derek, but it was clear that that strategy was not going to work. Not only was Derek dodging the combined attacks of Percy, Annabeth, Liam, and Thalia, but he was also moving out of the way of my arrows with ease. How hard could it be to kill this guy?

I watched with silent horror as my question was answered. Annabeth sliced at Derek with her dagger, but Derek ducked and kicked her so hard that she flew backwards, landing hard on a stone picnic table. She must have hit her head, because she did not attempt to get up again. It was with shock that I realized that Derek had managed to knock her unconscious.

Percy realized this at the same time that I did, because he gave a howl of rage and charged head-on at the part-empousai. It was probably not the best idea, because Derek danced out of the way of Riptide (Percy's sword) and lashed out at the son of Poseidon with his fist. It slammed into Percy's face, breaking his nose with a loud _snap!_

I was well aware that I was gaping as Percy staggered, falling to the ground as Derek kicked him in the ribs. With little visible effort, Derek had just incapacitated two of the toughest people I had ever known.

I growled another curse at him as I notched an arrow to my bow. Derek was facing two children of Zeus, and he also seemed to have little problem with them, despite the fact that Liam and Thalia attacked in perfect unison—when Thalia thrusted at Derek with her spear, Liam sliced high at the half-monster with his sword. I added to the attack with a hail of arrows, but Derek sucked his gut in, causing Thalia's spear to miss him by a hairsbreadth. At the same time, he blocked Liam's sword with his claws, and spun out of the way of my arrows.

What the hell was this guy?

 _Weapon of choice,_ Phoebe had said. Suddenly I could see why. Well, I wasn't going to let her—or Derek, for that matter—win. With little thought of the consequences, I drew my hunting knife and joined the melee fray.

Derek seemed surprised by this. Obviously, he hadn't expected me to come directly at him with my small knife.

But when I slashed at Derek with my dagger, he ducked out of the way and raked his claws across my forearms, leaving four deep cuts that began to bleed heavily. It felt like somebody had branded me, and I bit my tongue to keep from crying out. In the moment it took for me to become injured, Derek had already grabbed Thalia's spear and thrown it into the bushes. A moment later, she was sprawled on the ground, nursing a long gash in her thigh.

It was just Liam and I left, and I realized in that moment just how bad of shape we were in. Liam was bleeding from a dozen minor wounds that I hadn't seen him get, and the wounds in my arm kept me from gripping the dagger properly. I had to switch it to my left hand, which made me clumsier. Blood dripped down my arm.

I was furious. Harming me was one thing—harming my friends was another. I didn't care what it took; I was going to turn Derek into dust, even if it killed me.

Fueled by my anger, I lunged forward with the hunting knife, slashing upwards at Derek's stomach. He easily sidestepped it, which sent me crashing into Liam. We both tumbled to the ground, bruised and beaten.

I scrambled to my feet, but Derek had already grabbed Liam by the scruff of his neck and was holding a claw to his throat.

"Well, isn't this nice?" Derek said. He wasn't even breathing hard. " _Classic_ love triangle. The two of us—" he tightened his grip on Liam. "—at each other's throats, all over some stupid girl."

"Let him go," I said. "I'm the one you want."

"True," Derek conceded, "but my orders were to make you suffer."

"Whose orders?" Liam choked out, but when Derek pressed his claw a little into his throat he silenced.

"Who else?" Derek asked. "The _true_ ruler of the night sky, the mistress of prophecy."

"Stop being so dramatic," I said, forcing an air of annoyance into my voice even though seeing Liam's throat bleeding a little made my own tighten. "It was Phoebe, wasn't it?"

"On the nose!" Derek exclaimed sarcastically. "You really do take after your grandmother, even if you weren't wise enough to see me coming."

I froze. Was he talking about Athena, Lawrence's mother? How could he know about that, unless...

"That's right," Derek said, laughing again. "Phoebe knows all about your father. Police officer, right? Well, not for much longer, if you catch my drift."

Rage cut through me like a knife, even more potent than the pain in my arm. "Leave Lawrence out of this."

"I love how they always think we'll listen when they say things like that," Derek said to Liam, as if they were sharing some private joke. He turned back to me. "You really should be more careful who you hang out with in broad daylight."

"I'll kill you," I said, spittle flying out of my mouth from the ferocity with which I'd said the words.

"With that sliced-up arm?" Derek chuckled. "I don't... _what_?"

He was looking at my injured arm, shock written all over his features. Following his gaze, I looked down at the wound, only to realize that it was no longer a wound. It was sealing itself shut before my very eyes, until there wasn't even a scar left. No wonder it hadn't been hurting as much. More out of instinct, I looked up at the sky to find that the moon had come out of the clouds, shining its silvery light directly on me. Not only had my wound healed, but I felt stronger, like I could suddenly run a marathon. My exhaustion evaporated, and I was able to stand taller.

 _Thanks, mom._

In a flash, I had notched another arrow to my bow, and somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that it was my last one.

Derek sensed my intent and began to draw the claw across Liam's throat—but I was faster.

My arrow sped across the pavilion, slicing through Derek's claw before he had a chance to kill Liam with it. Instinctively, the half-monster ducked out of the way, throwing Liam to the ground and dodging to the left—just like I knew he would. Before Derek had any chance to chance his trajectory, my hunting knife was flying through the air, sinking into his heart.

He stared down at it in shot for a solid three seconds before he crumbled into dust. But not before he said three words:

" _Phoebe is waiting._ "

 **x x x**

"As far as I can tell," Annabeth said the next day on the bus ride home, "Derek was a monster that actually _had_ a soul—which was why he was able to get past the Staff."

She had healed fine, but she still had a small goose egg on the back of her head. The rest of us had faired well also. Percy had the advantage of being able to heal while in water, but his nose was still stained an ugly purple from the bruise. Thalia still had a bit of a limp, but she was walking fine. Liam seemed to have the worst of the injuries, and he hadn't been able to consume any more nectar or ambrosia for fear of burning up. I had healed fine—all I had to do was stand in the moonlight, and I was golden.

I still wasn't sure exactly how that had worked, but Annabeth had explained to me that Percy experienced something similar when he stood in water. It made me relax a little bit more—I wasn't _completely_ abnormal.

I was bouncing my leg nervously as Annabeth had tried to figure out why the Staff of Soteria hadn't worked—it had been bothering her to no end. Luckily, one of the other mortals had let me borrow their phone, so I was able to call Lawrence and make sure that he was okay, especially after Derek's threats. One thing was for sure: I could only handle one immortal being after my death at a time.

"That's great, Annabeth," Percy said, removing the pillow from over his face, "but sleep is pretty important."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

I wasn't listening. Why _were_ two immortal beings after me? What had I possibly done to earn both Zeus's _and_ Phoebe's ire? One was obvious: Zeus was just pissed that I had been born. But what about Phoebe?

I closed my eyes and tried to work it out in my head, tuning everything else out. Phoebe was a Titan; she obviously wanted her power back from my mother. If she was so big on suffering, as my conversation with Derek seemed to suggest, then it would make sense that she would kill me—she was obviously under the impression that my mother cared about me. But my gut told me it was more than that.

If I died, then my mother could possibly be upset. If it looked like someone powerful had killed me—like Zeus himself had attacked me—then she would be pissed. Civil war would ensue, according to what Liam had told me about the gods. Both major and minor gods would pick sides, and the Olympians would destroy each other.

I straightened in my uncomfortable bus seat. A civil war would be the _perfect_ thing for a Titan—in all the chaos, Phoebe could waltz in and take control of the moon, and the prophecies, back.

But there was a problem. In order to make it look like Zeus had killed me, Phoebe would need to kill me herself. And if my dreams were still accurate, she was still rotting in Atlantis—so how was she supposed to frame Zeus?

It didn't matter—the bottom line was that Phoebe was using the conflict between Artemis and Zeus to claw her way back to power. Somehow, I had to stop her.

"What are you thinking about?" Liam suddenly asked me. Somehow he knew when I was thinking dangerous thoughts like these.

"I'm thinking," I said cautiously, "that I need to go to Mount Olympus."

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	28. I MAKE THE WORST DEAL EVER

**Okay, thanks for the reviews, guys! I really do appreciate when you guys give me feedback.**

 **Also: I feel like I should reiterate that I do not own the Percy Jackson series. Just in case. I get paranoid.**

* * *

"You want to _what?"_ Annabeth demanded.

We were sitting in Chiron's classroom after school on Monday night. I had waited for the group to recover over the weekend before telling them my plan. Liam had been incredulous when I first told him, but when I explained my thinking to him, he seemed to agree. Now I just had to convince the others—including Chiron.

The centaur in question was still sitting in his wheelchair form to conserve space as we sat in his classroom. He hadn't openly rejected my idea yet, which seemed to be a good sign. But it was him I had to convince.

"I want to go to Mount Olympus," I repeated.

"We got that," Thalia said, crossing her arms and giving me a sour look. "But _why_? My father will _kill_ you."

"No, he won't," I said, crossing my own arms. "Think about it. Zeus hasn't actually shown up to skewer me on a lightning bolt, or whatever. He's just sent monsters after me. That way, if I _do_ die, he can play it off as an accident to avoid a war with my mother. If I show up to the meeting, he won't kill me in front of Artemis—not if he wants to avoid a war."

It was Chiron who had informed me of the meeting a week or two ago. It was something simple, said in passing, but I would bet my left foot that he was regretting telling me now.

The gods were having an informal get-together on Mount Olympus to try and relax the hostility between Zeus's side and Artemis's. All of the twelve major gods (except maybe Hades) would be there to try and work out some kind of agreement. The meeting was tomorrow. Regardless of whether the others agreed with me or not, I was going. But it would sure make me feel a lot better if I had my friends to back me up.

"Tell me about Phoebe," Chiron said suddenly, looking up from his inner ruminations. "What exactly did she tell you about the prophecy?"

I knew the prophecy by heart; how could I forget it? "She said she knew all about my 'weaknesses' and told me the prophecy."

"Tell me _exactly_ what she said."

I took a deep breath and began to recite the prophecy.

" _A half blood of the Forbidden God_

 _will reach sixteen against all odds_

 _And see her family throat to throat_

 _While ancestors stand by to gloat_

 _They shall enter the kingdom gone_

 _and find that which once lived on_

 _But there is a price to pay_

 _For that who kisses_

 _The maiden's bane."_

Silence descended upon the room as the words sunk in. I still hadn't fully decoded the prophecy. Obviously the "child of the Forbidden God" was me. And something was going to happen on my sixteenth birthday. I just didn't know when my birthday was—so far, I had counted my age by the day I had been placed in New York foster care, which was as far back as I could remember. Lawrence no doubt knew, but I hadn't had the time to ask him.

And the line about seeing my family "throat to throat" was clearly what was happening now, with the whole conflict over why I'd been born. And "while ancestors stand by to gloat"...that had to be Phoebe. She was my great-grandmother, after all, and she had been gloating over me in those dreams.

But everything after the "kingdom gone" line was beyond my understanding. What kingdom was "gone?" Why would we (and who exactly was "we" for that matter?) enter it? And what were we supposed to find? And what the hell was the "maiden's bane?" Thinking about it all made my head ache.

Chiron seemed paler than usual. "That was _exactly_ what she told you?"

I shrugged. "She also went on about how I wouldn't stand a chance in a fight against her, but...yeah. That's it."

The centaur was gripping the sides of his wheelchair so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.

"Chiron, are you all right?" Annabeth asked, concern sneaking into her voice.

"Alex," Chiron said, addressing me with a serious expression, "you need to go to Mount Olympus. The gods must be informed of this threat."

I was too surprised to say anything right away. I thought I was going to have to sneak up to Mount Olympus behind his back—I didn't actually think he would agree to my plan.

"What's the danger?" Percy asked. "So some Titan knows about a prophecy with Alex in it. What's the big deal?"

"The _big deal_ ," Chiron irritably said, shifting in his seat to face Percy, "is that that prophecy was given hundreds of years ago, when Greece was still a strong nation. The fact that it had come about now is one thing—the fact that it has done so now, when the gods are at each others' throats, so to speak, is no coincidence." He wiped his face with his hand. "I fear if we do nothing, Olympus could be destroyed—for good, this time."

Annabeth was the first other than myself to realize it. "And then Phoebe and any other Titan in hiding could take power."

"Great," I said after a moment of awkward silence. "So who wants to come with me?"

"I'm coming," Liam said immediately.

"So am I," Thalia added.

"I'm coming too," Beckendorf said.

Every person in the room, save Chiron, quickly agreed to accompany me, even Grover. I didn't say it aloud, but I was touched by my friends' readiness to assist me. I was still learning that I was more than just a street rat.

"All right," I said, looking at the room full of my friends with pride. "Let's go."

 **x x x**

We stopped outside the Empire State Building.

"You're kidding," I said. How many times had I passed this building, with the path to Mount Olympus inside?

"No," Annabeth said, shaking her head.

 _Well_ , I thought, staring up at the intimidating building. _No time like the present._

If I was starting to get second thoughts about my plan, now wasn't the time to have them. Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door to the building and said a quick prayer.

The guard at the front desk must have received a lot of strange visitors all the time, because he didn't even bat an eyelash when six teenagers walked in. In fact, he didn't even look up from his book at all.

I cracked my knuckles. "Excuse me," I said, walking up to the man. "Six-hundredth floor, please."

The guard didn't even put his book down or look at me. "Zeus is busy today, kid. Get lost."

Chiron had warned me that this might happen, but I was in no mood to play games with a guard who may or may not have been mortal.

Sighing, I took five golden drachma out of the pocket of my leather jacket and plopped them on the table. At the sound of the metallic _clang,_ the man looked up. His eyes widened when he saw the coins I had placed there. I had been waiting for months for a chance to spend these, ever since I had killed the cyclops in the thrift shop.

"I think he'll be willing to see me," I said. "Oh, and tell my mother Artemis I said hello."

If I thought the man's eyes were wide before, now they looked like they were going to fall out of his head. He scrambled out of his seat, fumbled around his desk for a key card, then handed it to me. "Insert this in the security slot. Make sure nobody else is in the elevator with you six."

"Thanks!" I called over my shoulder as I strode towards the elevator, moving fast so that I didn't have time to change my mind. I could hear the others following behind me, and a tendril of nervousness tied itself around my heart. Was I really making the right decision?

As soon as everyone was inside the elevator, I pressed the close button before anyone else could get inside. My hands shaking, I inserted the security card into the slot. As soon as I did, a new button popped out of the elevator, a red one that read 600.

I hesitated before I pressed it, but then I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You've got this," Liam told me. His voice was soft but encouraging, and it restored my resolve. Banishing my anxiety, I pressed the button.

Nothing happened.

I frowned. "Does this thing work?"

"Just wait for it," Percy said.

So I waited for it. Overhead, elevator music played.

Finally, the doors dinged. Before I could think too much about it, I stepped out. But then I stopped. My eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. Had I hit my head on the way up? But no. What I was seeing was very real.

I was standing on a small stone path that seemed to hang in the air. Beneath my feet was Manhattan, from at least 30,000 feet in the air. In front of me, snow-white marble steps led up into the sky, cutting through a cloud.

Looking up, I saw the peak of a mountain with its summit covered in snow peeking out of the clouds. Hundreds of palaces clung to the side of the mountain, all crafted out of marble. Each one looked fit enough for a king. They all had white-columned porticos, gilded terraces and bronze braziers that burned bright enough to make me look away. Over those, hanging gardens sprouted olive trees and rosebushes, along with a myriad of other plants, some of which I had never seen before. Even from far away, I could see a large market filled with tents that were brightly colored next to a stone amphitheater. On the other side of the mountain, a large hippodrome and a coliseum were placed, just like the ones I had seen in my history book. Who said that greek cities were in ruins? This one was bright and clean and it looked like something out of a dream.

Only a nudge from one of my friends behind me reminded me what I was there for. Right. Civil war. Making Zeus leave me alone—stopping Phoebe. I needed to concentrate.

Unfortunately, walking through Mount Olympus, I realized this place was full of distractions. As we passed through the open-air market, I had at least six vendors offer me genuine—no, really, genuine!—unicorn horns, while others offered me tapestries of the Golden Fleece, or arrows crafted out of dragon scales. The others had warned me before-hand that all of the sales were fake, so I wasn't as swayed by the sales as I would have been.

As we climbed up the main road, I caught my first look at the palace of the olympians. Looming above us was a massive palace of glittering marble, gold, and silver. Large columns towered over us as we approached, most of them taller than Goode High. Large steps led to the central courtyard, and I was panting by the time we had cleared them all. Clearly these steps had been designed for giants—not for mortals like me. The next room was the throne room.

Well, it was less of a _room_ and more of a _football stadium_. But even that wasn't accurate enough—the place made Central Park look like a flower bush! Columns even more massive than the last held up a ceiling gilded with moving constellations.

My stomach twisted as I saw what awaited us. Twelve thrones, designed for beings at least twelve-feet tall, were arranged in an inverted U. In a central heart pit, a gigantic fire crackled, making me sweat. Every throne was filled except for the one to the left of the head throne. Hades's, I guessed. The gods in the throne room had been arguing loudly, but they silenced when they saw our approach.

They were all in colossal human form. I couldn't look at them without feeling a strange painful tingle. Zeus sat in the center, wearing the same pin-striped suit I had seen him wear in his Iris Message with Liam at Christmas-time. He was sitting on a throne of pure platinum that shined light painfully into my eyes. His blue eyes stared at me with an intensity that made me want to hide behind the nearest column, but he leaned on his throne with an air of laziness.

"This was a bad idea," I heard Grover mutter as we continued to approach.

"Shut up," I heard Percy hiss to him.

I almost stopped my approach when I saw someone sitting on a throne a few places away from Zeus. I had seen her once before in a picture that Lawrence had given me. Like me, she had her auburn hair gathered into a ponytail and silver eyes that reminded me of the moon. Her face was beautiful—no blemishes, no acne. Unlike the picture, her expression was stern and dangerous, but there was a hint of something gentler in her eyes when she looked at me. She was dressed in a silvery ski parka and blue jeans. Her throne was made of animal furs and antlers, and she gripped a gigantic silver longbow in her hands.

Artemis. My mother.

A strange mixture of emotions rolled over me: anger, confusion, longing, and annoyance. Before I had any time to process these, however, we were in front of the gods.

I wasn't sure what to do, so I kneeled. I ended up facing Zeus, but that hadn't been my original plan. In fact, all the words I had carefully rehearsed the night before seemed to scramble in my brain. One wrong word, and I could be turned into dust. I heard the others mimic my movement behind me.

Zeus spoke first. "What is this abomination doing here?" I realized with a start that he was referring to me, and my blood pressure spiked.

"She is my daughter," a voice said, and I knew it was Artemis. "You will not call her an abomination, father." Her voice called to mind the warm image I had of her over my crib as a baby.

"So you claim her," Zeus replied, his own voice full of malice. "You claim the child you mothered against the oath you took so long ago?"

I kept my head down, but I itched to look up at my mother. What _was_ her explanation for my birth?

I wouldn't get any answers today. "I have already explained the...complicated nature of events to you, father," Artemis replied. "And I have accepted the blame for the mistake. Yet you continue to hunt her. Let her speak."

A mistake.

Was that all I was to her? Something that never should have happened? A freaking _mistake?_

"Very well," Zeus rumbled, but I was barely listening.

"Alexandra," Artemis said, addressing me directly. I looked at her.

In her eyes, I saw a trace of the woman in the picture with me as an infant. There was a gentleness in her eyes that I couldn't quite explain. At the same time, she seemed to be curious about me—like she didn't know what to make of me. That made sense, because I wasn't sure what to make of her either.

I could feel the other gods watching me. "Mother?" I couldn't help the tremble in my voice.

"Tell Zeus your story." There was something else in her tone, something that sounded like: _Make him believe you_.

I stood, and when nobody decimated me, I began to speak.

"Four months ago," I started, hating the tremor in my voice, "I was homeless."

I told them the whole story, beginning with how I was found and enrolled at Goode High, making sure to only leave out the more personal details. I told them about the dreams I'd had about Phoebe, and for the first time, the gods looked uncomfortable. Aphrodite seemed downright fearful. What exactly was their history with the Titan? I pushed the thought out of my mind, continuing with my story. I ended with the tale of Derek, and the dreams I'd had of Phoebe where she'd told me the prophecy.

Zeus was the only one who seemed unaffected by the news, but I could still see concern flashing in his eyes. "That is an...interesting tale. But tell me, mortal. Why shouldn't I kill you where you stand? You are still in violation of my daughter's pact."

Fear made sweat trickle down my back. We hadn't thought this far ahead; we had assumed that Zeus would not kill me in my mother's presence. I couldn't help my eyes from flicking to Artemis. She was staring at the floor. No help there.

I straightened my shoulders and opened my mouth to respond, but someone else's voice spoke.

"Father," Liam said, standing next to me. "Alex has come here to warn you of danger, despite the threat to her own life."

I felt a thrill of terror slice through me. Chiron had warned us not to speak out of turn, especially Liam or Thalia. Zeus had already tried to have Liam killed once before. What would he do to him now?

"Do not presume to speak to me, boy," Zeus barked, his grip on a thunderbolt in his hand tightening. "You do my name dishonor by appearing here with the girl I ordered you to kill. For that, you should be punished." He began to stand.

I hardly knew what I was doing until it was too late. In an instant, my bow was in my hand and an arrow was pointed straight at Zeus's face.

"Nobody touches my friends," I said, and for once my voice was steady. "So I wouldn't try it if I were you. I never miss."

I realized my mistake instantly. Zeus was immortal; I was just a street brat with a bow and arrow that would do little more than annoy him. And I had just pissed him off.

I could see the change in his eyes. No, Zeus was not lazy. His eyes burned with that same angry fire that I had seen in Liam and Thalia, only a thousand times worse. He was going to kill me, and then my body would be thrown from Mount Olympus with the rest of the garbage—that is, if there was anything left at all.

There was a long, tense moment during which nobody moved. But then a harsh, braying laugh cut through the silence.

"She's got spunk," a man (and I use that term loosely) who could only be Ares said. He wore aviator's sunglasses and an army jacket, just like Clarisse. "Good job with this one, Loony Moony."

My mother scoffed. "I have told you not to call me that." But her eyes were firmly fixed on me. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

I still had my arrow pointed at Zeus. When he sat back down, I slowly lowered it.

Then the Lord of the Sky surprised me by laughing. "Now I see why you have been so elusive."

I slowly relaxed. I had just threatened the lord of the gods, and I had survived. How lucky could I be?

"You shall be responsible for dealing with Phoebe," Zeus said.

Huh. Not that lucky.

"Father," Artemis intervened. Her face was impassive, but somehow I could tell that she was worried. I guess it was a facial expression that we shared. "You remember what happened last time..."

"I remember," Zeus said sharply. "But judging from the...spunk this one has displayed, I think she is up to the task."

Was that a good thing? It didn't feel like a good thing.

Zeus turned back to me. "Phoebe is hiding in Atlantis, you say?"

"Yes, my lord," I said, even though the word "lord" felt wrong on my tongue.

The Lord of the Sky sighed. "Are you mortals at all familiar with the Aetherium Crown?"

I frowned and looked at Liam, who was still standing next to me. He looked abnormally pale, and for good reason. He had narrowly avoided death when his father forgot him. He shook his head.

I had never heard of it either, and Chiron had helped us study a lot of myths. "No, my lord. What is it?"

Zeus hesitated, and then he spoke, as if revealing a great secret. "The Aetherium Crown was one of the artifacts lost to us in the sinking of Atlantis. It has been kept secret for many years—only a being of immense power can wield it."

I narrowly avoided saying, " _So why do you need it?_ " Instead, I frowned. "Artifacts, my lord? Artifacts of what?"

"Artifacts of Ouranos's rule," Zeus said. "You do know who Ouranos was, correct, mortal?"

I bit my tongue. "Yes, my lord."

Ouranos was the first ruler of the universe—he predated the Titans. He was the husband of Gaea, and the embodiment of the sky. Apparently, he had been fairly powerful. An artifact of his creation would have to be powerful indeed.

"Excellent," Zeus said in an airy manner, and I got the sense that he was bored. "You will go down to Atlantis and rescue it from Phoebe."

I was confused. I thought the point was to stop Phoebe, not to steal something. But one look at Zeus's face told me that I had already asked too many questions.

"Yes, my lord," I replied. I was growing tired of saying that. "But I may require assistance."

Zeus waved his hand in dismissal. "Yes, yes, of course. Anyone who has aided you so far may accompany you." His expression suddenly changed for the serious.

"And if you should perish, I shall consider the argument with your mother closed."

Well, crap.

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 **(IT'S ME)**

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 ***ahem* Anyways. Please review, guys!**


	29. I TAKE THE WORLD'S SCARIEST BUBBLE-BATH

**Alright dudes I'm updating early today because I have finals in school tomorrow, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to update tomorrow. Please keep reviewing—I'm not sure if I got Artemis's character right this chapter. Any feedback wouldd be great.**

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I tossed a pebble down the street of Mount Olympus dejectedly.

"Skáta," I muttered, watching the pebble bounce away. How the hell was I supposed to get to Atlantis, get the Crown, somehow stop Phoebe, and get out in one piece? It was an impossible task, one Zeus was too eager to send me on.

And nobody had explained to me why the Aetherium Crown was so important. Yeah, I get that it's some uber-powerful artifact. But I was more concerned with stopping Phoebe and getting my life back.

"Ahem," a voice said behind me.

I turned, a scathing retort prepared for one of the satyrs that had tried to hit on me earlier. Instead, I found my mother staring at me. My words died on my lips, and all that came out was a "Whuh?" sound.

She had changed from her appearance in the throne room. Instead of a twelve-foot giant staring down at me, a woman only a little taller than I was was waiting for me to say something. She still wore the silver ski parka. Now that she was normal sized, I was able to see more resemblances in our faces. Clearly, we shared the same nose, and the same hair, and the same glare that I usually used on Liam—though Artemis was not using it on me at the moment. Why would she want to speak to me alone? I was under the impression that she didn't give a crap about me.

"May I sit here?" Artemis asked.

I swallowed my shock. "Sure. Uh...mother." Was I supposed to say ma'am or something? What was the protocol here?

Artemis sat down on the bench next to me, with a healthy amount of space between us. "You've grown."

I sat there in an uncomfortable silence, biting back a sarcastic retort. What was there to say? She had abandoned me in the foster care system, where I had been tortured for years. The scars on my back tingled at the memory. Not only that, but she had left Lawrence behind. I wasn't exactly sure as to the history between them, or how I had sprung from the relationship, but Lawrence was clearly still suffering from the effects of courting a goddess.

Artemis tried again. "You must have many questions."

I bit back a scoff, but a snort still escaped me. When my mother didn't vaporize me, I allowed myself to speak. "Ma'am, what exactly is the history between Phoebe and the gods? I've studied the Titans, but Phoebe was barely mentioned."

My mother gripped her bow tightly. "Then you know that when Kronos was defeated, the Titan army scattered. For years, we gods have hunted them, but Phoebe was the most elusive. Because of her insight into prophecies and the future, she was able to see us coming.

"Phoebe took shelter in Atlantis, after Poseidon had fathered ten children and portioned off the land to them. With so many of the gods roaming Atlantis, the mortals assumed she was one of us and treated her like royalty. It was the perfect place to begin a rebellion—to topple the gods.

"Phoebe began gathering the mortals and even some of the gods's children into her rebellion, telling them horrible stories about us in an attempt to turn them. Because of her gift of prophecy, they believed her. They attacked us the moment we stepped foot on Atlantis's shores. Because many of the gods had sired them," Artemis looked uncomfortable, "they were able to put up quite the fight. That was the _real_ reason Zeus sunk Atlantis into the sea—to stop the rebellion and to kill Phoebe. Only a split second decision on my father's part was able to subdue her before she was able to escape the island. But Titans are not any more capable of death than we gods are. We had assumed she was dead, but now I see we were mistaken."

I frowned. "But then...why hasn't anyone heard about Atlantis? An island disappearing into the sea...that would cause some commotion."

Artemis shrugged, a very un-godly action. "We wrapped the Mist around the area where the city sunk. Most mortals forgot about it, but obviously the myths lived on. Most mortals today sail right over it without knowing what is underneath it, and Zeus has outlawed speaking of the event."

My frown deepened. "Then...why are you telling me this, mother?"

Artemis laughed, and I realized that it was quite similar to my own laugh. "You should have gathered by now that I do not always follow my father's rules. After all, he banned any god from aiding you, but I see you are still wearing the pelt I gave you."

I couldn't drop my mouth from dropping open. The jacket around my shoulders shimmered. "You... _you_ were pretending to be Mrs. Nancy?"

"I am surprised you did not guess it already," my mother said. "You are a very observant child."

Was that a complement? Did she just complement me? I thought she wasn't supposed to care about me at all! It made it a lot easier to be angry with her.

It brought to mind a question that had tortured me for weeks, and before I could stop myself, it slipped out of my mouth. "How was I born? You're the goddess of virginity, and you swore an oath against falling in love."

Artemis winced (say what you want about me, but if I can make a goddess wince, then I'd say I'm doing pretty well for myself). "That is complicated."

I waited, unsure of whether or not she would tell me. After a long moment of silence, my mother began to speak.

"Oaths take on a more powerful meaning for gods than they do for mortals. I swore on the River Styx that I would never fall in love, and for thousands of years I honored that oath. But then I met Lawrence." There was a wistfulness to her voice now. "We were both hunting the same animal—a manticore. I shot it with my bow at the same time that Lawrence did with his." Artemis smiled. "Things...progressed after that. It wasn't until Orcus, the god of broken oaths, appeared to me one day that I realized what had happened."

I'd read about Orcus—he punished those who broke their sacred oaths. But everything I'd heard about gods so far led me to believe that they couldn't be punished. Why didn't Orcus punish Lawrence? My father had ended up with a butt-load of money and a good job—he didn't seem to be punished to me.

"I was the one who broke the oath, not Lawrence," Artemis said, as if reading my thoughts. "As such, Orcus decided on a fitting punishment for the breaking of my oath. A child, the product of the love I had broken my vow with."

A wave of cold washed over me. I was a punishment? No wonder Artemis had referred to me as a mistake. Because I was a punishment, I had nearly caused a civil war with the gods. If that wasn't a depressing realization, I didn't know what was.

But when Artemis spoke about me, she didn't seem to think I was a punishment. "I never realized just how painful childbirth was," she said. "I gained a new understanding of mortals—and of course, I gave birth to you." That same gentle look had overtaken Artemis's features. "Orcus had overestimated his punishment. When he saw how happy I was to give birth to you, he altered the punishment: I could never be near you. It was Orcus who had taken you from Lawrence and I, Orcus who had placed you in foster care."

I sat back on the bench, letting her words wash over me. I had been wanted by my parents. I had been loved. But it had been taken away from me. A new understanding of my mother and father dawned on me.

"In the end," Artemis said, taking my silence as a cue to continue, "it was a good thing. Otherwise, Zeus might have found out about your existence earlier and ordered your death when you were not ready."

I swallowed. It was a lot of information to process. What was I supposed to say? That I was sorry that I had been inflicted as a punishment? That I was grateful that I had been sent to foster care? Confusion ballooned in my chest, followed by anger.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I could smell olive trees, and the earthy scent helped anchor me. When I reopened my eyes, Artemis was observing me with an unreadable expression.

"Controlling your anger does not come easily to you, does it, Alex?"

I nodded, hating the flash of embarrassment that cut through me.

There was a hint of a smile across my mother's lips. "I'm afraid you got that from me. I have a bad habit of turning men who offend me into jackalopes."

I couldn't help a chuckle of my own. "Really? I'd kill for that power."

"But you already have power," Artemis said, tilting her head curiously at me.

"I do?"

"Of course," she said. "You haven't noticed? You can speak to wild animals, you have extreme accuracy, and the moon heals you and gives you power."

I nodded, conceding the point. All of those skills had been tremendously useful. But I sensed there was something else that my mother wasn't telling me. She seemed troubled. "What's wrong?"

Artemis frowned, and I realized once again how similar the facial expression was to my own. "Your power comes with a price."

 _What doesn't_? I thought. "What price?"

"Another amendment to the punishment," Artemis replied. "But it is part of _your_ punishment. Because I have forsworn love and broke that oath, you were born. But you suffer from a similar oath."

I froze. "But I've never sworn an oath!"

"Orcus added it. In order to keep your powers, you can never be involved with a man romantically." She said the words without batting an eyelash, but I began to redden, cursing my hormones.

"So I can never...be in love?" I said. I might have already broken the so-called oath, if that was the case.

"Well, yes." My mother said. "Technically, you can be. The agreement was a little different in that aspect. But you can never kiss a man, or you will lose your powers." Again, she said the words without hesitation, while I was filled with a sense of awkwardness—and dread. What would have happened at Christmas if I _had_ moved my head a little to left, in the bathroom with Liam? I might not have survived until this point.

Welp. Now I understood why conversations like this were always awkward with one's parents.

But now I also understood the last lines of the prophecy: "There is a price to pay for that who kisses the maiden's bane." _I_ was the maiden's bane. And if I ever kissed anyone, the price was the loss of my powers.

Suddenly Phoebe's words took on a new meaning: Derek wasn't only her "weapon of choice" because he had been a superb fighter—but because he was attempting to seduce me to get rid of my powers.

I had to bite back a scoff. What was this, some teenage romance novel? It was a cliche twist, and I wondered if Orcus had been reading too many steamy books lately.

"Alex?" It was someone else's voice, and I turned to see Liam waiting for me farther down the road. The others had gone ahead, ready to head back down to the mortal level of the world, but I had stayed behind to clear my head. Liam's eyes widened when he saw who I was talking to.

I cursed my luck. He was the _last_ person I wanted to see right now, especially after what Artemis and I had just talked about.

I stood suddenly. "Is it time to go?"

Liam nodded mutely. I guess we both didn't know how my mother would react if he spoke.

I looked at Artemis, who was observing Liam with a concealed expression. That couldn't be good. She looked back at me. "Good luck, Alex." Suddenly, her expression filled with pride. I took a step backwards, I was so surprised.

"And remember," my mother said to me. "No matter what happens, you are truly my daughter."

 **x x x**

In Central Park, there was a tall pine tree. It wasn't really taller than any of the others, but it wasn't shorter either. At its base, six stones were piled in a makeshift pyramid.

I stared up at my tree, and I couldn't help wondering if this was the last time I'd be near it. The last time I'd smell it. When I was homeless, this place was my safe spot. I knew that nobody could touch me while I was hiding there. But I couldn't hide anymore. And I hated that.

Glancing around to make sure nobody was looking, I began to climb up the tree, all the familiar footholds in the bark easily found by my feet. When I reached as high as I dared go, I sat on a branch. _My_ branch. It was where I had slept, where I had eaten.

For a moment, I just sat there, taking in the sounds of the birds tweeting and the way the wind ruffled my hair. Would this be the last time I sat here? Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I drew my hunting knife. I came here for a reason.

When it was done, I stared at my initials, carved into the wood of my branch: AC. Alexandra Clayton. There. Now I knew I had left my mark on the world. If I _did_ die, my tree would not forget me. Maybe one day, someone would climb up here and wonder what AC meant, and why it was carved here.

My watch beeped, reminding me of the time. It was time to go.

I scrambled back down the tree, not caring who saw me. It was time to face a Titan, and a prophecy.

When I arrived at the docks, the others were already waiting for me. Every one of them had showed up. Again, I felt touched. In the face of danger—the most that I had ever faced—my friends were sticking by me. I wiped my face before anyone could see the tear or two that had sprung up there.

"Are you guys ready to go?" I asked, when nobody else spoke. It felt odd. Was I expected to lead these people?

"Yep," Annabeth said, holding up her backpack. I could smell the nectar and ambrosia from where I stood. Good. With where we were going, I suspected that we would need it.

Percy's father, Poseidon, had offered us safe passage across the sea until we reached the spot where Atlantis had sunk. I was glad that one of the gods on my mother's side had offered—I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to trust something that Zeus provided for travel. Poseidon had even provided us with a boat, a small luxury boat. Frankly, I didn't see how the ship (which was designed for people with a _lot_ more money than I) was supposed to get us to Atlantis quickly, but he was the Lord of the Sea, so I wasn't going to argue.

Percy stepped onto the boat first, since he had the most experience with the ocean. The moment he stepped on board, ropes and pulleys and a bunch of other devices that I didn't understand on the boat began whipping around—and I suddenly understood why Poseidon hadn't provided us with a crew to sail the boat. Percy _was_ the crew.

"Come on, guys," Percy said when we all stared. "We haven't got all day."

That seemed to snap us out of it. Annabeth hauled her backpack onto her shoulders—what else had she put in there?—and followed Percy onto the boat.

I was the last person to get on, and as I looked behind me, I saw the city of New York fade from view as Percy took us out of port. This was it. The last chance to turn back and let the gods fend for themselves.

I shoved down the impulse. I wasn't just taking something for the gods; I was getting my life back. After this, I wouldn't be hunted any more than an average demigod. It was as close to normal as I was going to get.

And that would have to be good enough.

 **x x x**

I woke in the middle of the night feeling nauseous.

Staggering out of the room in the same clothes I had worn that afternoon (I had been too exhausted to change), I reached the top deck of the ship just in time to vomit over the side. It didn't surprise me that I was sea-sick—I had never really left New York, and had never even been on a boat ride at an amusement park.

I wiped my mouth and groaned. I was quickly discovering that I did not like sea travel. Still, I had it easier than Liam and Thalia, who had each locked themselves inside their rooms, vomiting their lungs out. Poseidon had granted them safe passage, but for two children of the sky this must have seemed like torture.

Percy was below-deck sleeping, but somehow the ship still followed his commands. I was alone above deck, and I tried not to focus on where the ship was going or what we were going there to do. It didn't work.

It was a crazy idea. If Zeus wanted this "Aetherium Crown" back so badly, why didn't he just get it himself? Why send a bunch of demigods after it?

Artemis's words came back to me. Last time, Phoebe had done a real number on the gods. It couldn't be that Zeus was afraid, was it? I almost laughed at the thought. Zeus, Lord of the Sky, was afraid of Phoebe. It made me feel crazy—because I didn't feel afraid at all.

Then I realized it was because I was standing in the moonlight. I rolled my eyes. It was almost like a drug, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. With a start of surprise, I realized that my skin was glowing in the silvery light, making me shine like a beacon in the night. That was bad for a number of reasons. And it didn't seem very practical, either. If I was hunting at night, wouldn't I want my prey _not_ to see me? As soon as I thought that, my skin stopped glowing, like I had pressed the off button. Curious, I tried to make my skin glow again, and it worked.

I laughed. I was a human glow-stick! With a thought, I turned my skin back to its normal level of illumination.

Something shook the ship suddenly. I lurched backwards but managed to catch myself before falling over. With a loud groaning noise, the ship puttered to a stop. Had we hit something?

My question was answered when Percy came bounding out of the bottom of the ship, followed quickly by the others—even Liam and Thalia.

"What happened?" I asked Percy as he looked over the side.

He didn't seem worried. "This is Poseidon's way of telling us that we're here."

I swallowed. "Are you sure?" We hadn't even been sailing that long. Then I realized that we were sailing with the son of _Poseidon_ , in _Poseidon's_ ship. Of course we got to Atlantis quickly.

Percy nodded and pointed over the side of the ship. "Look."

I looked.

Beneath us, something was glowing brightly. I hadn't noticed it before, but it was obvious now. I couldn't tell exactly what was making the light—it was so far beneath the surface of the waves that the only part of the city I could make out was the blinding light. No wonder the gods had to wrap the Mist heavily around this place; whatever was living down there sure liked to leave all the lights on.

"Great," Liam said, his face an ugly shade of green. He was gripping the side of the boat tightly. "How are we supposed to get down there? Did your dad pack a submarine?"

A wave suddenly splashed Liam in the face. He spluttered, and I couldn't help laughing as his glasses were covered in seaweed.

Percy was grinning. " _I'm_ the submarine. Everybody get into the water."

Liam blanched. "Uh-uh. No way."

I sighed. "Liam, I hate to break it to you, but Atlantis is _underwater_. How were you planning to get the Crown? A fishing pole?"

"Um...yes?"

I rolled my eyes and pushed him over the side before he had any more chance to protest. When I looked at Thalia, I found that Annabeth had already done the same.

"Great," I said, climbing over the side of the ship myself. The water was freezing, but I clenched my teeth to keep them from chattering. How _was_ Percy planning to get us down there? I could swim, but not well enough to swim all the way down there.

"Everyone bunch together," Percy said. "As close as possible."

We did as he said, and it was particularly difficult for Liam and Thalia, since it was discovered that neither of them could swim. Percy had given them each a floatable seat cushion to hold. Percy took a position on the outside of our group and closed his eyes, seemingly concentrating.

A moment later, a large bubble closed over our group, capturing the air above us and the water below. When Percy dived, our bubble dived with him.

It was _definitely_ too late to turn back now.

Being underwater was strange. It was especially strange because we were moving at somewhere around fifty miles per hour, and I was doing little more than tread water inside the bubble. So yeah. I guess being friends with the son of Poseidon had its advantages.

As we zoomed closer to the underwater city, I was able to make out more details. The water had become impressively clear and seemed to give off a phosphorescent glow. Below us, I could see various dwellings just as elaborate as the ones on Mount Olympus had been. Some were under glass domes, but most were in the open ocean, and each structure held a pearly gleam.

The largest structure seemed to be bigger than three Goode Highs. It stood in the middle of the sea, unconcerned by the waves. Shining pearl and gold decorated the surface, making it easily visible in the dark underwater light. Outside, large statues depicted gods and goddesses. It had to be the Temple—the place where the Aetherium Crown had been held before Atlantis had been sunk.

"We need to go there," I told Percy, who was swimming outside the bubble. I pointed to the temple. I wasn't sure if he could hear me, but he seemed to understand well enough and steered us towards it.

Something huge suddenly glided past, leaving a trail of glowing bubbles in its wake. It looked like a manta ray, but it had a hundred-foot wingspan and had luminescent markings down its back. I gasped, but the thing just swam right past us, not caring whether or not we were present. It was a good thing, too—the barb on the ray's tail could have skewered a bull.

It took me a moment to realize that there were other things floating in the water. They seemed to float aimlessly around, entering and exiting buildings...

 _No_ , I thought. Not _things._ People.

Or at least, what looked like people. They were blue, covered in scales, and had gills along with bulbous red eyes. Many of them wore leather armor and pants, but no shirts. I couldn't see any female...whatever they were.

Percy picked up his pace as some of them spotted us, but it was too late. With an open mouth that may have been shouting in alarm, one of the fish-people pointed at our bubble. Another one turned, a trident in hand.

 _Crap_ , I thought as he threw it.

I watched, as if in slow motion, as the trident sped towards us. Percy tried to speed us up to avoid it, but it couldn't be avoided. The trident flew through the water, and right as it was about to pierce the bubble, an underwater wave batted it away.

I almost cheered. Percy had controlled the waves to save us!

Our triumph was short-lived, however, as more of the fish-people realized our presence. Right before we entered the temple, I saw at least twenty of the humanoids gathering, all of them armed.

 _That's not good._

I lost sight of the small army as Percy guided us inside the temple. Inside, all was quiet—but that could have just been because no sound permeated the bubble. The inside of the temple almost rivaled Mount Olympus—there were carvings on the wall that were so intricate, I wondered if some minor god have carved them. It was dark inside, however. Even with the dim lighting, I could see that only half of the temple seemed to be submerged underwater. Above us, I could see the top of the water, even though we had to of been miles beneath the surface.

Percy led us up to the surface, and the bubble vanished with a soft _pop_. Gasping with the frigidness of the water, I scrambled up onto the floor, shivering. We had emerged in the center of one of the rooms—apparently, a small hole in the center of the floor made for an excellent moon pool. As the others climbed out of the water, I transformed my watch into a bow. If we were lucky, those fish-people wouldn't have been able to tell which part of the temple we went to, but I was quickly learning that I had used up all of my luck.

"I can't see anything," Grover said. "Blah-ha-ha!" I couldn't tell if that last part was a shiver or nerves, but I was preoccupied with something else.

 _I_ could see fine. In fact, I could see everyone in the room perfectly clear. The only problem was that everything seemed to have a silvery tinge to it.

I would have chuckled if I were in the mood. I learn something new about myself every day. Not only was I a human glow-stick, but I could see in the dark just fine. That seemed like an unnecessary combination to me.

For my friends's sakes, I concentrated. A moment later, my skin lit up with the silvery glow I had discovered earlier. I kept concentrating until I was lighting up most of the room, and I could see Liam gaping at me.

"I didn't know you could do that," he said.

"Neither did I, until about two hours ago," I replied. It had taken longer than I would have liked for us to reach the sea floor. "But we have other things to worry about. I think those things out there know what we're here for."

I notched an arrow to my bow as Percy climbed out of the water; he was the last one. His clothes weren't even wet, and he wasn't shivering. No fair!

The others followed my example, drawing their various weapons. The only one unarmed was Grover, but he was also shaking water out of a set of reed pipes. I wasn't sure what he was planning on doing with them, but he wielded them with a confidence that I couldn't understand, so I left him alone.

Something shot out of the water, sticking itself into the domed ceiling of the room we were standing in. The trident was vibrating from the force it had been thrown with. I cursed right before all hell broke loose.

The fish-men burst from the water without warning, leaping onto the marble floors with horrible war cries that made my skin crawl. Most of them carried tridents or short-swords, but I saw a few with harpoons. Their brown leather armor glistened in the light from my skin.

I immediately launched an arrow into the crowd of fish-warriors, and one of the harpoon-carrying thugs fell back into the water, dissolving into dust. The humanoids charged at us, and I launched as many arrows as fast as I could into their ranks—I had never faced so many enemies before, not even at the foster care where Fred's goons had outnumbered us. Luckily, I had five powerful demigods and a satyr with me, so the odds seemed to be more even this time.

A fish-man lunged at me, but a tendril of water jabbed at it, turning it into dust. I sent Percy a thankful look. To my right, Liam and Thalia worked side by side as the underwater warriors attacked them. Thalia shielded Liam as he slashed at them, and I realized with a start that both of them were powerless here. Underwater, they couldn't access the powers of lightning that they had at Camp Full-Water, because they were in Poseidon's domain, not Zeus's. They both seemed to be managing themselves fine, however, so I refocused on myself.

It wasn't a moment too soon, because a fish-man had just fired a harpoon at me. I dived to the floor, coming up in a roll—right next to another humanoid's foot. It stabbed down at me with its trident, and I maladroitly scrambled away. The trident still managed to take a chunk of flesh out of my ear, and I yelled out in pain. Drawing my silver hunting knife, I buried my dagger in its gut. Once it turned into dust, I thrusted directly backwards with my knife and killed the other Atlantean sneaking up on me.

I rolled at something whistled over my head and narrowly avoided another harpoon. I was getting frustrated now. How many of these bastards did we have to kill?

I placed three arrows on my bow and fired—three Atlantean harpooners went down. There—that should resolve the issue.

In a few more minutes, all of the Atlanteans had been cleared from the room. The small pool in the center was clouded with monster dust, and we were all bleeding from minor wounds.

"What were those things?" Thalia panted, sitting on the ground and nursing a shallow cut in her shin.

"Not sure," I replied, ripping off a portion of my shirt and holding it up to my ear. Luckily, I could still hear fine, but the Atlantean had removed the top portion of my ear.

"I wonder if they're the original Atlanteans," Annabeth said, passing out nectar and ambrosia like candy. Despite the flavor, I chewed mine dejectedly.

Ambrosia couldn't restore lost parts of the body—someone couldn't use it to restore a chopped-off hand—so my ear would be missing a part for the rest of my life. Great.

"How would that work?" Beckendorf asked, cleaning his bronze hammer.

"They could have been turned into monsters by Phoebe. Or the sinking of the city. Or any other number of factors. It's impossible to tell," Annabeth replied.

I allowed for the group to have a five minute break, but I didn't want to stay in this room any longer than I had to. More Atlanteans could pour in at any moment, and I didn't want to be here when that happened.

"Alright, people," I said, standing with a groan. "We've got a crown to take."

 **Hey, any suggestions for a different chapter name? The one I have now is, in my opinion, a little iffy. Please review if you can!**


	30. WE RELIVE A MOVIE AND OUR CHILDHOODS

**PLEASE tell me I am not the only Star Wars fan here—this chapter was inspired by the first movie that came out. I also do not own it, otherwise I would be filthy rich.**

* * *

Atlantis was a strange place.

I continued to use my newfound glow-stick power to light up the hallways we walked down, and I didn't like what I saw. On the walls, carvings of battles fought stared back at us—and they weren't very comforting.

It appeared that Phoebe's rebellion was more affective than I originally thought. The images on the walls seemed to show the mortals beating back the gods—which suggested that whoever had built this place had already been swept into my great-grandmother's schemes.

Not only that, but strange noises sometimes vibrated through the place: loud, low-pitched noises that made my back teeth vibrate. I wasn't the only one whose nerves it grated on, but Percy assured us it was just a nearby whale saying hello.

"Anyone else ready to go home?" Grover asked after about twenty minutes of wandering through the halls of the temple. It was also freezing, and he spoke through chattering teeth. Luckily, my jacket seemed to keep me plenty warm, once it had dried off, so I was faring better than the others.

"Come on, Grover. It isn't that bad," Thalia said, but she was paler than usual. My guess was that she had never been underwater for this long—or even _in_ the water for this long.

"We can do this," I said, but I was keeping the doubt in my voice hidden. We didn't even know where we were going; how were we supposed to find the Aetherium Crown and stop Phoebe?

Luckily, at least one of those questions was answered as we turned the corner. Instantly, I recognized the place from one of my dreams. The room we had entered looked like a tomb, carved from black granite with 12 symbols on it, though all but six had been scratched out. Above a large stone door, the symbols of Artemis, Aphrodite, Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, and Hephaestus could be seen. Unlike in my dream, however, the door did not open as we approached it.

"What is this place?" Beckendorf asked as we stopped in the center of the room.

"I'm not sure," Annabeth replied, looking curiously around the room. "It looks like some kind of offering room. But why are six of the gods crossed out?"

"I dreamed about this place," I said, half to myself, approaching the stone door. "Why?"

I pressed my hand to the stone door, and instantly it swung open, revealing a dark interior. No torches this time around.

"How did you do that?" Annabeth asked me. "That door weighs a ton at the least."

I shook my head. "I don't know."

I was beginning to dislike this quest.

"Come on," I told the others, turning the brightness in my skin up a notch. "More of those Atlanteans could show up at any minute."

I could hear the others following me as I turned into the dark hallway. I couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. In my dream, Phoebe hadn't been too far away.

I didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing when we emerged into a room that was unlike the one in my dream. The one in my dream had been a large, cavernous room. This one was no larger than Chiron's classroom. It was covered in junk—gears and springs littered the place, left lying in large mountains in the four corners of the room. In the center of the room, a small forge stood. At the opposite end of the room, another stone door stood, this one thicker than the last. Above it was the symbol of a hammer—the symbol of Hephaestus.

"Now I'm confused," Grover announced. "What is this doing here?"

Ignoring the rest of the room, I walked up to the stone door and tried placing my hand against it. Nothing happened. I pushed against it. Still nothing.

"Beckendorf," I said, calling over the burly boy. "Why don't you try this?" It _was_ his father's symbol over the door.

Beckendorf tried pushing on the door as well, but nothing really happened. Actually, I take it back. After a moment, a small keyhole appeared in the stone.

"Great," Percy deadpanned. "Anyone see a key lying around?"

I turned back to the forge, the gears in my head turning.

"We have to make one," I said at the same time as Annabeth. I grinned.

"What?" Thalia asked, her brow furrowed. "What do you mean, 'make one?'"

"I can do it," Beckendorf said. "I just need some metal and some tools."

"You've got plenty of both," I said, clapping him on the back. "Just tell us what to get you."

Soon, Beckendorf had us scattered across the room, tossing him little bits of metal that he melted in the forge.

"I need a mold," he called out. "Does anyone see a key mold?"

I wasn't exactly sure what he was asking for, so it was a relief when Percy cried, "Got it!" and held up a small square mold with the hollow shape of a key in the center.

It was less of a relief when he said, "Crap." afterwards.

"What is it?" I asked. That was never a good sign.

Percy held up his other hand. In it, a small orange wire was held. A tripwire!

As soon as the realization hit me, there was a tremendous rumbling sound that shook the room even more than the whale's call had. I stumbled into the wall, but then a cold pit took over my stomach. The walls were _moving_. All four walls of the room were closing inwards on us, closing off the entrance to the room.

"Give me the mold!" Beckendorf cried. Percy tossed it through the air, and the son of Hephaestus caught it deftly and began pouring melted metal into it. "I need more time!"

I grabbed a long pole from the pile of junk and braced it against one wall as the opposite wall closed in. For a moment, the trap halted, but then the pole bent at an awkward angle and fell to the ground as the trap's strength won out.

"Has anyone ever seen _A New Hope_?" I asked, trying to ignore the panic building in my chest as the others braced junk against the walls in a futile attempt to make them stop.

"The one with the trash compactor?" Liam asked. I helped him pile a bunch of metal boxes in front of one wall. The room was so small now that I could reach out my arms and touch the west and east walls with no effort. For another excruciating moment, the walls paused, and I could hear a loud grinding sound as the mechanisms struggled against our barriers. But just like the _Star Wars_ movie, it hadn't worked, and the walls began moving again after a moment, crushing the boxes with a loud _crunch!_

"Done!" Beckendorf exclaimed, holding up a shining metal key that still looked to be a little warm.

"Throw it!" I shouted, pressing myself sideways so that I wouldn't be crushed. The forge made a strange hissing sound as it was condensed by the trap walls. I tried not to think about how Grover, the clumsiest of us all and closest to the door, would have to catch it.

Beckendorf did as I said, and the key flew through the air in slow motion, glinting in the light from my skin. For a moment, everything seemed to freeze as the walls touched my skin, beginning to squeeze the life out of me. Grover reached out his hand, and then...

 _Foom!_

The walls stopped all of a sudden, retreating a few inches until I could breathe again. I sucked in air like it was Grape Crush, gasping with leftover terror. _Now_ I understood Liam's claustrophobia. I looked over and found Grover's hand still on the key in the stone door. With a soft _snick,_ the door swung open.

For a moment, we all just stood there, gasping. Then Grover bounded through the door, shouting, "Thank Pan!"

I chuckled and finally caught my breath, following the others through the door. "What kind of room was that supposed to be?"

"A test," Annabeth said, her voice still breathy. "If the Atlanteans were serious about hating the gods, they would have wanted to be equal to them. They would have tested themselves to see if they were up to the task."

"Were they?" Liam asked.

We passed a small niche in the dark hallway. In it, a mountain of skeletons was piled, the bones yellowed from age. Most of them were cracked, formed into makeshift weapons and canes.

"What do you think?" Annabeth replied.

That seemed to put a damper on the conversation. We walked on through the dark. Luckily, there were torches this time around—although they were a strange blue color. I briefly wondered what they were burning as I turned the brightness on my skin back to normal. But then we entered another room, and my mind quickly became preoccupied.

The room we were standing in was physically no larger than the last, but it seemed to fill a larger space—mostly because it was empty. Well, almost empty. In the center of the room, a circle of steps led down to a podium. Resting on it was a large cube about the size of my head. It had strange symbols on it, and thanks to Chiron's class I knew that they were greek. The whole room seemed to be leaning towards the cube, even the stone door at the opposite end of where we had entered. Above the exit to the room was the symbol of a large owl. Of course. The cube in the center had to be some kind of puzzle.

"Is that a Rubik's Cube?" Liam asked, stepping up to the box and peering at it. Thalia slapped his hand away as Annabeth approached it, her eyes narrowed. I could already see her working out a hundred different ways to solve the cube.

"Do we have to solve it to open the door?" Grover asked.

"Shh," Annabeth said. She was standing in front of the cube now, and after another moment of thought she put her hand on it and twisted.

Instantly, a blue light shone from within the cube. The puzzle box made a soft grinding noise as the row Annabeth had twisted moved. After another moment, the two other rows moved as well, each in an opposite direction.

Annabeth cursed softly, and I couldn't help but grin again. If there was anyone who could solve the puzzle and get us out of this room, it was her. And luckily, the walls were not closing in on us this time, so she would be able to think clearly.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, something in the corridor we had just come from clanged against the floor. Instantly, every one of us except for Annabeth had our weapons drawn and pointed towards the hallway.

"What was that?" I asked, my voice just loud enough to be heard.

"Nothing good," Percy said, his voice just as low.

For a long minute, nothing happened. Then something whizzed out of the darkness, embedding itself in the marble floor before us, less than an inch away from my foot. A harpoon.

Well, so much for giving Annabeth room to think.

I fired off four arrows in rapid succession into the hallway right as more of the Atlanteans emerged. There had to be at least 100 of them; I had never seen so many people (if they could be called that) gathered in one place before. The first row was full of harpooners, carrying the large mechanisms with both hands. My arrows took out four of them, but there were still six more in the front row. I dived to the side as they fired; Liam and Thalia hid behind her shield, and Percy, Beckendorf, and Grover ducked behind the wall. Six harpoons slammed into the spots where we had been standing. Glancing over my shoulder, I found Annabeth still working on the puzzle. Our only way out of this mess was if she could unlock the next room.

"Protect Annabeth!" I bellowed, leaning around the corner and firing off a few more arrows into the crowd. The six harpooners in the front were neutralized, but there was still a small army behind them. With their fishy war-cries, they charged forward, and we held our ground against them. We had to.

Liam, Thalia, Percy, and Beckendorf held the front line while I fired more arrows into the crowd. I was about to tell Grover to find cover when he lifted his reed pipes to his lips and began to play a hearty jig—something that would have belonged in an Irish pub. For a moment I was dumbfounded; why would he be playing that now, of all times? But then I understood. The algae that coated the floor and some of the Atlanteans clothes began to twist, coming alive when they heard Grover's tune. They tripped up the monsters coming for us, some of it even holding the creatures in place, making them easier to kill.

Gods, I had great friends.

Even so, there were only six of us defending. Inevitably, we began to get pushed back. At one point, I ran out of arrows and had to start using the discarded harpoons instead. Thanks to the gifts from my mother, I still didn't miss—but the metal was rough and grated against my hands as I fired them back at the enemy. The Atlanteans forced us back, towards the puzzle cube. As I fired, I noticed a bead of sweat making its way down Annabeth's forehead as she twisted the cube again and again. We were running out of time.

I turned back to the battle, and just in time, too—a harpoon would have taken me in the chest had I not danced out of the way in time. As I looked towards the back of the room, I saw that the Atlanteans had formed their own line of harpooners. They fired at will, fortunately, but if they all fired simultaneously there would be little we could do to stop them.

I reached for a harpoon, but found that the quiver on my back was empty, even of the makeshift ammunition that I had been scavenging. The only thing left was the harpoon that had just been fired at me. Quickly, I fixed the projectile onto my bow string. After this shot, I would have to switch to my hunting knife. I tried not to think about how nervous that made me feel. Lifting my bow, I aimed at one of the harpooners, right as they fired—but not at me.

Everything seemed to slow down as I realized where the harpoon was going. Liam was busy parrying a strike from another Atlantean; he wouldn't even see it coming.

I've been in many scary situations in my life: foster care, fighting empousai, killing a cyclops. But never in my life has such _terror_ filled me—the fear that the son of the god who wanted me dead would perish. Not even when Liam had faked his death before; Derek's spell had still been doing a number on me, and by the time it had fully worn off Liam was fine. Faced with the reality of it now, I found that I couldn't breathe. But I _could_ move my hands.

Without even thinking, without even aiming, I lifted my bow and fired, knocking the harpoon off course right before it would have pierced Liam's chest. Startled, he killed the Atlantean in front of him and met my eyes. I knew he could see the terror in them. He nodded in thanks and turned back to the fight, and now I could too.

"I've got it!" Annabeth cried suddenly. A quick inspection over my shoulder revealed that she had managed to cause all of the runes on the cube to light up—and the way out of the room was opening up. I looked back to the entrance and found even more Atlanteans pouring in. There was no way that we could win this fight.

"Fall back!" I shouted, stepping backwards towards the exit. I didn't have any harpoons or arrows left. Slinging my bow across my back, I drew my hunting knife and slit the throat of an Atlantean who got too close.

"Come on!" I heard Percy say to Grover, whose face was red from blowing into his reed pipes for so long. The satyr nodded and, still playing that Irish jig, began to retreat.

Something sharp bit into my shoulder, somehow sneaking past the Nemean Lion's pelt that I wore. I gutted the monster who did it, swatting the spear away from me. Serves me right for leaving my jacket open; the Atlantean had wedged it past my defenses and into the unzipped portion of my jacket.

One of my friends cried out in pain, but I was too busy fending off three Atlanteans who had zeroed in on me to notice. One of them scored a small cut on my face, but I had turned them into dust before they had a chance to celebrate.

"Go, go, go!" Thalia said as we reached the exit, waving me inside as she guarded our passage out.

I hesitated as a harpoon slammed into the wall next to us. Thalia and I were the last ones to go. If we didn't shut the door, the Atlanteans would overwhelm us.

"You go!" I shouted at Thalia as she lifted her shield to halt the advance of the creatures.

"What?" she demanded, blue eyes wide. "You can't seriously think—"

"Just do it!" I said, raising my voice over the cries of the Atlanteans behind her shield. "I'll be right behind you."

"But—"

" _Go!_ "

Thalia swore a long string of curses, but she did what I told her. She collapsed her shield, running backwards into the exit. Now I only had a few seconds at the most before I was overwhelmed.

I ripped the harpoon out of the wall, spinning and notching it to my bow in one smooth motion. Aiming, I couldn't see my target over the massive crowd of blue-scaled creatures. They were three paces away now.

 _Just move out of the way a little,_ I thought. I needed a clear shot for this to work.

Two paces.

Less.

 _There!_

I fired into the crowd, taking a step backwards towards the exit. The Atlanteans, confused, looked towards where I had fired when they realized that they were all unharmed.

On the pedestal, the ancient Rubik's Cube teetered on the edge, my harpoon sticking out of the center of it. As everyone still in the room watched, it finally fell off the pedestal, shattering against the floor into small clay shards.

Instantly, the room shook, and the doors began to close a lot faster than I though they would have. Kicking away an Atlantean that had lunged for me, I turned and dived into the opening, which was now only as wide as a small tree.

My shoulders scraped against stone for a heart-stilling moment, but then I was through, and the doors shut behind me.

I was safe.

I barely had a moment to catch my breath before I realized that something was wrong. All of my friends were clustered around something on the floor, and I heard a sniffle—a sure sign that somebody was crying.

I opened my mouth to ask what hd happened, but then Thalia looked up at me, tears ruining her goth makeup. As she did, I finally caught a look at what was on the floor. Or rather, _who_.

On the marble floor, a harpoon sticking out of her left shoulder, was Annabeth. She was shivering, the only indication that she was still alive.

"I didn't see her," Percy said. "I didn't..."

Suddenly, all I could see was the blood staining the marble floor. It was my job to stop the harpooners. How had I not seen it when she had been shot? Why hadn't I killed all of the harpooners like I was supposed to?

What had I done?

 **Oh, I forgot how much fun it is to write cliffhangers. *laughs maniacally***

 **Shoot me a review! Or you know, don't...it's not like I need feedback or anything...**


	31. PERCY GOES FISHING AND LIAM IS ACROBATIC

**Aaaaaand I am officially done with school for the summer! Hopefully, I can update pretty often for the next few days unless something pops up, so enjoy!**

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We fed Annabeth as much ambrosia as she could stand. Her wound was better, but we still needed to tie a bandage around it—made from the torn fabric of Percy's shirt. However, no matter how much we prodded her, she would not wake up. It was decided then that we would leave her to her unconsciousness. Becekendorf carried her, since he was the strongest of us all.

I felt horrible, but the others insisted it wasn't my fault. I was the only one who could have taken out the harpooners, since they were at the back of the room and I was the only person with a ranged weapon. It was _my_ responsibility to take them out. Mine!

These thoughts continued swirling in my head as we trudged on through the hallway. Nobody spoke; clearly, we all felt Annabeth's analytical absence. At any moment, I expected her to begin spewing random facts about the architecture of the city—then I remembered what happened, and the guilty feeling in my stomach intensified.

Eventually, it was Beckendorf that ended my cycle of guilt.

"You can't be everywhere," he told me in his deep voice.

Deep down, I knew he was right, but I couldn't help feeling sick about it. But I pushed the thoughts aside for later—I needed to focus on the task at hand.

There was a brighter light at the end of the hallway, and I was the first to enter the new room. Surprise, surprise—another puzzle room. The first thing my eyes landed on was the stone door at the end of room, sealed once again. Above it was the symbol of Poseidon: a trident. But then I realized the splendor of the room.

This one was slightly bigger than the last, and covered in pearl and gold from top to bottom—even the floor. The room was bathed in a cerulean blue light that shifted constantly. In the center of the room, a circular opening into the ocean stood. The east side of the room contained a large stone scale with lots of intricate springs and gears that I didn't understand. What was that doing here?

Everyone looked at Percy like he was supposed to have the answer. He still looked pretty shaken, and he was standing close next to Annabeth, whom Beckendorf had laid on the ground. "What?"

I walked up to the scale, trying not to think about my guilt. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that it was closer to a modern scale; there was one large pedestal on it that moved up and down when I pressed on it with my hands. An image was carved on the side of the pedestal. It seemed to depict a fish, but it wasn't like any fish I had ever seen before. The carving showed an aquatic creature with the normal head of a fish, but the body of an eel—and a long one, too. The image portrayed the eel body coiling three times around the scale before finally ending in a fish's tail. What kind of thing was this? And why was it carved on the scale?

Understanding dawned on me slowly. "Percy, have you ever gone fishing?"

He frowned at me. "Um...no. Why?"

I gestured to the carving on the scale. "I think you need to find this and bring it back here so we can put it on the scale." I gestured to the opening to the ocean in the center of the room.

Hopefully that would open the door. Without Annabeth, I felt like I was operating on assumptions—she would know whether or not I was right.

Percy stared at me, and then at the scale. Then he muttered a curse. "Fine."

For a moment, he crouched before Annabeth, brushing a stray strand of blonde hair out of her face.

"We'll keep her safe," Beckendorf promised him.

Percy nodded and stood. He looked back at Annabeth one more time before jumping into the water with the smallest of splashes.

A moment of silence.

"Now what?" Liam asked.

I sighed and sat down, my back against the wall. "Now we wait."

I checked my watch. It was ten at night, but it felt like it was later. Heck, it felt later in the year, but it was only January 31st. It was tempting to lean my head back against the wall and fall asleep, but I forced myself to stay awake. The opening in the floor was designed for the puzzle of this room, but it could just as easily be used as another entrance for the Atlanteans to ambush us through.

I tried hard not to think about how long Percy was taking. Not only was he trying to find a fish in the open ocean, which could take forever, but he was also in the territory of the Atlanteans. Granted, he was the son of Poseidon, and he was in his element, but I had already seen one friend hurt. I wasn't keen to see another suffer the same fate.

 _Splash!_

Percy jumped back into the room, and once again his clothes weren't even wet. He was carrying something huge in his arms, and I realized with a start that he was carrying the very fish that we needed.

It was quite a bit larger than its carving on the scale seemed to suggest. It had to be at least twenty feet long, which was long enough that all of us had to pitch in to drag the thing into the room. Oddly, it had the giant head of a goldfish, with large orange scales. Its lengthy body was the color of gold, but its tail was a dark black and looked sharp enough to slice me to ribbons. I steered clear of its end. Luckily, the fish seemed to be either dead or unconscious, so it was less of a struggle to fit all twenty feet onto the scale. Granted, it was still a struggle—there was twenty feet of it, after all. We ended up having to fold the fish in on itself a couple times to get it to fit on the stone slab of the scale. When we stepped back, the pedestal sank all the way to the floor.

For a moment, nothing happened, and I wondered if I had been wrong. But then a loud grinding sound was heard—just like with the other chambers—and the stone door under the symbol of a trident began to slowly open.

Thalia went first, her spear extended, to make sure there were no traps waiting for us this time around. When she nodded and stepped inside, Liam followed her. I grabbed Annabeth's backpack and followed quickly after them. I was not eager to stay in this room.

But then disaster struck. Percy had just picked up Annabeth and was turning to the door when the fish came alive, suddenly thrashing and uncoiling itself from the scale. It was still alive!

Beckendorf slammed his hands down on the fish's body, trying his best to hold it in place while Percy was forced to put Annabeth down to help him. Percy straddled the fish-eel's midsection, barely avoided the sharp tail that was swinging around like mad. Beckendorf tried to slam his hammer into the creature's head, but it was thrashing too much for him to be able to try.

I watched with a stunned horror as the stone door began to close, and my first instinct was to dash across the room to help them, or to grab Annabeth's body and bring her back behind the door, but before I could act on either of these impulses, the eel lashed out with its tail, launching Beckendorf and Percy across the room. The last thing I saw before the stone door slammed shut was the eel slithering back into the ocean and Beckendorf and Percy lying unconscious next to Annabeth.

Thalia, Liam and I stared at the stone door in shock.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Thalia demanded.

 **x x x**

We debated whether or not we should wait for them to wake up, but that would mean that we would also have to wait for Percy to recapture the fish, and who knew how long that would take. There was also no guarantee that he would be able to recapture it, or that they could open the door and make it through. All three of us hated it, but we decided to move on, find the Crown, stop Phoebe, and then come back for them later.

I tried to tell myself that Percy and Beckendorf would understand, but I couldn't help feeling like I should have done more. My entire life, I've worried about my friends abandoning me—I never thought about what would happen when I abandoned them. I _hated_ the feeling of knowing what I'd done. It felt like something was trying to eat me from the inside out.

The three of us were silent as we walked towards the next room. I knew we'd been through three, which meant that we still had three to go. But if they all had similar challenges, I wasn't sure what our chances were of actually reaching the Aetherium Crown in one piece.

I twisted what was left of my ear to get my mind out of that negative place. The only way we would reach the Crown was if we maintained a positive attitude—and stayed aware.

When we walked into the fourth room, I instantly felt something change. The room felt lighter—airy, somehow. I found that I could breathe easier, and I didn't feel as cramped in the confines of the room. That could have just been because this room was even larger than Poseidon's.

The walls were a sky blue, and they were crafted out of a strange glowing metal with runes carved in the surface. The ceiling of the room seemed impossibly high up—like someone had taken a little chunk of the sky and placed it in the room with us. Gold decorated every surface. Just like in the room dedicated to Athena, there was a small podium in the center of room with a circle of steps leading down to it. But this time, instead of a puzzle cube, there was an empty space on the podium. It seemed to be missing something. Over the stone door that led out of the room, the bronze symbol of a lightning bolt stood. This was Zeus's room.

Liam and Thalia both straightened as we entered the room. They walked more easily, and some of the color returned to their faces.

"Do you feel that?" Thalia asked.

Liam nodded and snapped his fingers; electricity arced from him in tiny waves. "Our powers are back."

"How is that possible?" I asked. "We're miles under the surface of the water."

Thalia walked up to the wall, running her hand over the runes there. As she did, more lightning arced, lighting up the whole wall in a deep blue color. "See these runes? They have to be what is giving this place its power. The Atlanteans must have carved the walls with them once the city sunk."

I looked around the room. There was no visible light source, yet it was illuminated as clear as a summer's day. There didn't seem to be any obvious way to solve whatever puzzle was in the room. "What are we supposed to do?"

Liam looked up at the ceiling, furrowing his brow. "Why would they make this room so tall?"

"Because Zeus is the Lord of the Sky?" Thalia said, frowning. "He likes big, open spaces."

"But why restore the power of Zeus?" Liam asked. "I'm willing to bet that they had at least one of Zeus's kids here. The answer to this room has to be something up there."

"Are you sure?" I asked him, not liking the implications. "There could be traps or something up there."

He smiled at me, and despite everything that had happened in the past few hours, it made me feel better. "I'm sure."

And with that, Liam flew up into the rafters. I lost track of him after a few moments.

I looked at Thalia. "Your half-brother is insane."

She nodded. "I guess it runs in the family."

Thalia and I waited for a few minutes, but Liam did not reappear. I did my best to ignore the worry coiling in my stomach.

Finally my impatience got the better of me. "Do you see anything?" I shouted up into the ceiling, not sure whether or not Liam could hear me.

Then a voice called back down. "Not yet!" Liam replied. I still couldn't see him. "I haven't...wait! I think I see something." He hesitated, and I imagined him flying around up there like Superman. "There's some kind of orb up here. Looks important."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Bring it down here, then!"

A moment later Liam was hurtling towards the floor at tremendous speeds. Just as I thought he would splatter against the floor, he suddenly slowed, coming to a stop less than an inch from the marble.

I slapped his arm hard when he finally landed. "Idiot. You could have killed yourself."

Liam shrugged. "You said to bring it down here."

I growled a curse under my breath and looked at the orb he had clutched in his hand. It appeared to be made of obsidian, but as I continued to stand by it, I could feel the electricity emanating from it. Whatever it was crafted out of, it had to of been a major conductor of electricity.

Liam placed it on the podium with a flourish. Other than sinking into it like it belonged there, nothing happened.

"Well," I said. "That was...anticlimactic."

Thalia narrowed her eyes at the orb, and I could see an idea forming in her head. "Maybe not. You two may want to take a step back."

Liam and I shared a look as we did as she suggested, stepping towards the sealed stone door.

Thalia took a deep breath, cracked her knuckles, and fired a bolt of lightning at the orb.

The conductor absorbed the blast immediately, and behind us, the stone door inched open suddenly, then shut itself again.

My eyes widened. "The Atlanteans developed electrical wires?"

Thalia wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. "Looks like it. I have to keep a continuous stream of lightning on it. You two go through first. I'll duck in after you."

I swallowed and nodded. With everything that had happened, the risk of leaving yet another friend behind was great, but there was no other choice. "Got it."

Liam and I pressed ourselves against the stone door, ready to dash through the moment that it opened. Behind us, I heard Thalia shake herself out again. Then a tremendous _boom_ shook the room as she poured electricity into the orb. In front of us, the door began to inch open.

As soon as there was enough space, I squeezed myself through the gap, with Liam following not too soon after.

I turned around, waiting as close as I dared next to the door just in case it closed suddenly. In the room, Thalia was sweating heavily as thunder arced from her hands. Slowly, she began to make her way to the door, keeping up the stream of electricity.

"Too slow," Liam muttered from behind me. "She'll never make it."

Fear. "Is there anything you can do?"

He shook his head. "We're in the hallway—I don't have my powers. If I step into the room, there's a good chance we could both get trapped in there."

I grit my teeth. There had to be _something_ we could do!

Thalia had stepped back as far as she could while maintaining the power in her hands. She started to run towards the door, but I already knew it was too late.

The minute she had cut off the power, the stone door began to shut, far more fast than it had opened. Liam and I both grabbed the edge of the door, trying to keep it open, but we did little more than slow it. I heaved with all of my might until my shoulders screamed, but the door still drifted shut.

Thalia knew that she'd never make it. While we pushed against the door, she stopped running and shook her head at us.

"Come on!" Liam shouted through clenched teeth at her.

"It's no use!" Thalia cried. I couldn't even see her anymore; there was maybe an inch or two of space left. "Remember—"

But we never got to hear the end of her sentence, because we both had to jump out of the way to avoid getting our fingers crushed. The door slammed shut with a massive _thud._

Liam slammed on the door with his fist, swearing in greek. I kicked the door. _Another_ friend lost to this infernal city. I hated this place. I hated this quest.

Something jingled as it rolled across the floor. Curious, I stooped over to see what it was. My jaw dropped.

Liam looked where I was. When he saw what Thalia must have thrown through at the last minute, he looked miserable. "Oh, sis. You didn't."

There, lying by our feet, was the bracelet that contained Thalia's shield. Aegis.

 ***sniffles* Guys, we're almost done. I'm thinking there are three, maybe four chapters left. THAT MEANS YOU HAVE A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TIME TO HELP ME FIX MY ERRORS AND STUPIDITY!**

 **I mean, you can still review and stuff when the story is done, but that's not really the point...**


	32. I GO HUNTING AND BAWL MY EYES OUT

**FAIR WARNING: THIS IS THE MOST CLICHE THING I HAVE EVER WRITTEN. I APOLOGIZE.**

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Liam and I tried about thirty different ways to try and get the door to reopen, but nothing worked. Eventually, we decided to move on—though a great deal of time had passed since the doors had shut. We were more cautious going forward; if a large group of Atlanteans came after us now, we were very unequipped to handle it.

I could tell Liam was worried about his half-sister. He had taken the band that held her shield Aegis and was twisting it around his wrist, just like he sometimes did with the ring on his finger that contained his sword.

Aegis was modeled off of the shield that Zeus uses. It had the head of the gorgon Medusa molded into the bronze. Even though it wouldn't turn anybody to stone, it was still horrible enough to make most people—and monsters—run when they saw it. Somehow, it seemed strange to see Liam carrying something so fierce.

I wanted to say something to help ease his anxiety, but I had no clue as to what to say—I was still fairly shaken myself. There was only two of us now. Our best bet would be to snatch the Crown, go back for the others, and _then_ find some way to send my great-grandmother to Tartarus.

I just wanted to go home.

I pushed that thought out of my mind and pushed onwards. We were close to the fifth puzzle room now. Aphrodite and Artemis were the only two left unaccounted for. I felt confident that we could get through them without too many issues. One was not a very combative goddess, and the other was my mother. As long as we were careful, we would be home soon. But I couldn't let those kinds of thoughts distract me.

It was just in time, too, because we had just entered the next puzzle room. It was smaller than I expected, maybe only the size of my bedroom. The walls were crafted out of a rosy granite, casting the room in a pink light that I did not care for. The room was completely empty. The stone door was placed exactly where the others had been, and the symbol of a heart was above it.

I gagged. _Aphrodite._ I was hoping this room would be last. I had nothing against Silena—who was Aphrodite's daughter—but her mother kind of freaked me out. It was a little ridiculous; I had faced countless monsters _and_ other gods, but a harmless love goddess? Piece of cake, right? Wrong. The very idea that Aphrodite somehow controlled who people fell in love with...it sort of freaked me out. Granted, I hadn't really focused on Aphrodite when we were studying Greece, so I could have things wrong. But I was still apprehensive as we entered the room, especially when I saw what was written above the door.

It seemed to be a riddle, written in Ancient Greek. Squinting, I could barely make out what it said:

 _If you wish to pass the door, confess that which makes the heart sore._

I frowned. "That's not very romantic, is it? Any idea what it means?"

Liam shook his head, his eyebrows scrunched up. "Not a clue. What's with the riddle? None of the other rooms had them."

I shrugged. "Love is supposed to be confusing, right? My question is why the Atlanteans would include a goddess of love when they were trying to overthrow the gods. Why not focus on Ares or something? Love isn't exactly something that I would consider dangerous."

"You'd be surprised," Liam muttered.

I ignored him, trying to concentrate on the riddle. _That which makes the heart sore._ What could that mean? Was one of us supposed to confess something about an ex? Were we supposed to say we hated somebody? I thought Aphrodite was supposed to be one of the "nice" goddesses, if any of them could be called that. I wondered briefly if any of the Atlanteans had a firm understanding of what love was. Then again, I was only a teenager. What did I know?

I wished Lawrence was here. My father would be able to decode the riddle no problem, and with all the crap he had given me about boys and the stories he told me, he could probably get the door to open.

Huh. That was the first time I had referred to him as my father in my head.

I sat down on the floor, my back pressing against the wall, as my head continued to spin around the riddle. _If you wish to pass the door, confess that which makes the heart sore._ What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Liam sat next to me with a sigh. "I hate this place."

I snorted. "Same here."

Liam crossed his arms. "And what's with all the riddles and puzzles?"

I shrugged, but I noticed that his knuckles had become bloodied in his attempt to open the stone door with Thalia behind it. "Do you need some ambrosia?" I nodded towards his hands.

He shook his head. "No, I'll be fine."

Our eyes met, and suddenly I wasn't thinking of the riddle, but of the last time he had damaged his knuckles, and I had attempted to bandage them in the bathroom at Christmas. My face grew warm.

I coughed and looked away. "Riddle."

"Right," Liam agreed. "Riddle."

I realized how dangerous of a situation this was for me, considering what my mother had told me about romantic involvements. I was stuck in a room dedicated to _Aphrodite_ with _Liam_. I needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. This would be the _worst_ time to lose my powers. I should talk to him, explain the situation. But how was I supposed to bring that up? _Hey, I think you're amazing and everything, but we can't actually ever..._ the words wouldn't come, even in my own head. Gods, I was so terrible at this.

I looked back at him. He was shivering, and I realized for the first time just how cold it was in this room. I had my invincible jacket, so I hadn't really noticed. I felt a flash of guilt. Why should I be the one to be warm?

I unzipped my jacket and swung it over both of our legs. It was a little small, but once again the Nemean Lion's pelt heeded my commands, lengthening until it was long enough to cover both of our legs.

"Thank you," I heard Liam said. I was avoiding looking at him, simultaneously dreading and looking forward to what I could see in his eyes. "I—" Liam suddenly gasped. "Alex, what happened?"

I looked at my shoulder and muttered a curse. When the Atlantean had cut me with his spear, he had done a lot more than just injure me. He had also torn away part of my gray shirt, revealing some of the scars on my back and shoulders. I had been wearing my jacket, which hid it, but now Liam could see them.

Damn.

I swallowed and didn't say anything. What would he say, now that he'd seen them? Would he think that I was weak? That I couldn't take care of myself? I closed my eyes, dreading whatever came out of his mouth next.

His voice was soft. "What happened?"

Anger flared in me, and I used it to fend off the embarrassment and dread that had taken residence in my stomach.

"Frederick happened," I snarled. "He had a habit of using fire pokers and belts on his kids, not just fists."

A sudden intake of breath. A growled curse. I turned back to see Liam angrier than I had ever seen him. I had no doubt that if my former caretaker had been in that room, he would have been a charred mess in less than a second. Liam took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was a strange emotion mixed in with the emerald that I couldn't explain.

"Are you...I mean, can I...are they..." He took another breath. "Are you all right?"

Odd. I expected Liam to try and reach for me, to comfort me. Instead, he asked _me_ if I was all right, instead of just assuming that I was broken. Gratitude for the goofy boy in front of me hit me in a massive wave, and my throat closed up.

I nodded my head _yes_ , that I was alright. I knew how to take a hit. I knew how to take punishment.

Liam's eyes were soft, and his brows were furrowed. "They look painful."

I laughed, and the sound cut through the room unexpectedly. Of course _he_ could make me laugh at a painful past. Given time, he could make me laugh about anything. Liam smiled a little as well.

"Yeah," I eventually said. "They were. But I got used to it."

Liam's eyes flicked to my shoulder, to where the scars were. "Can I..."

He wanted to know if he could touch them. It was an odd request, one I had never heard before. I considered rejecting it for a moment, but then decided against it. I had taken the infliction of the scars. What more could he do? Besides, I knew he would never intentionally hurt me.

I nodded, and Liam gingerly extended a hand, touching my shoulder. He traced the scars on my back with a strange gentleness that made my throat close up even further. I hadn't expected this when he first saw them.

Artemis had said that I had received my anger from her, but I knew that was only partly true. When Frederick had beaten me, or when he had beaten the other children, he hadn't just been taking his own anger out on us—he was instilling it _into_ us. His beatings had given me strength in a counterproductive way, but they had also given me more anger than I knew what to do with. And I hated that.

Tears welled up suddenly in my eyes. I looked away so that Liam couldn't see. I had only cried over the beatings in the beginning, when I was young. I shouldn't do so now.

"Alex," Liam said. His voice was mellifluous. "I'm so sorry that this happened to you."

Something inside of me cracked open. Before I had time to process what I was doing, I had begun to cry, and then Liam's arms were around me in a hug. I buried my face in his chest, allowing myself to cry over the scars for the first time in a long time.

"Shh," Liam said, rubbing circles in the small of my back in an attempt to calm me down.

I was too surprised by how gentle he was to even think. He smelled like green apples, and oddly the scent of vanilla. The two smells shouldn't have gone together, but they did. A part of me hated myself for crying, but it was quickly melting away. Why _did_ I have to be strong all the time? I knew Liam wouldn't hurt me. He'd had multiple chances, and he still hadn't.

So I let myself cry, and eventually the tangle of emotions that had been in my chest for months began to unravel itself. Anger at Frederick dissipated. Guilt for Annabeth and leaving my other friends faded. One by one, all the complicated things I had been feeling began to straighten themselves out. All because of this one boy. A part of my brain realized that I had stopped crying some time ago, and that Liam was still holding me. That I was still letting him.

Images flashed through my head suddenly. Liam, apologizing for the argument at the library. Liam at Selina's party, showing me his music. Him and I in the closet before Christmas. Him and I in the bathroom at Christmas. Liam being beaten by Brandon. Liam faking his death to break Derek's hold over me.

And before I could stop myself, the words just slipped out. "I love you."

Luckily, I had spoken them soft enough that I could barely hear them coming out of my own mouth. Liam didn't seem to have heard me, and I relaxed. The moment I had spoken the words, I knew they were true. Maybe I had always known, ever since that party. It seemed so cliche that I almost laughed, and a sudden giddy feeling overtook me.

Something behind us began to grind. Curious, I looked up—only to find the sealed stone door opening. Instantly the riddle made sense. _If you wish to pass the door, confess that which makes the heart sore._ What else made the heart sorer than love? Granted, it was pretty great—but it was a two-sided coin.

Liam and I stood, and I put my jacket back on, covering up my scars, but not what I had discovered. As soon as we got through this whole ordeal, I would tell him. But we had to stop Phoebe and get the Crown first.

"I don't get it," Liam said, looking confused. "Why did the doors suddenly open?"

I almost laughed, but I kept my face passive. "I don't know. It doesn't matter. Come on—we've only got one room left."

As I marched towards the final room, I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face.

 **x x x**

I'll admit, I was looking forward to my mother's room, probably more than I should have been. Well, I was ready for it, at least.

The hallway before the room was completely dark, but for some reason my gut told me not to light up the hallway with my skin. I knew we had reached the end of the hallway when a small armory appeared right before the entrance to my mother's room.

I praised whatever god was listening. Arrows!

There were quivers full of them, hanging on the wall of the hallway and glowing with an inner silver light despite the dim lighting in the hallway. I grabbed the first quiver I saw and dumped the contents into my own quiver. Then I strapped another onto my back, just in case the first should run out. There were a couple bows lined up against the wall, but the craftsmanship of mine was far superior than anything the Atlanteans had to offer.

There was also a small pile of leather armor in the corner, which Liam and I instantly strapped on. I had the advantage of my Nemean Lion's pelt, but Liam didn't. Leather armor was good for allowing the wearer to move quickly in a fight while defending from lighter sword strokes. It wouldn't do much against a spear or an arrow, but it was better than nothing. I made sure to strap some armor to my shins and thighs.

Curiously, there was a small door to the entrance of Artemis's room. When I opened it and stepped inside, I immediately knew why.

Artemis's room was less of a _room_ and more of a _forest._ As I walked in, I felt dirt squish under my feet. The earthy smell of pine trees filled my nostrils, and I felt more at home than I had in hours. Since I had no trouble seeing in the dark, I saw just how big the room really was. It was almost larger than Zeus's had been, nearly as wide as the other had been tall. Mist curled slowly between groves of pine trees. Across the room, the sealed stone door stood proudly. The bright silverly image of a moon shone above it. Just like Aphrodite's room, words were carved in Greek above it.

 _Hunt the beast that lurks in here to find passage to the final lair._

Finally! Something straightforward. Obviously there was some kind of creature in here that I had to hunt in order to unlock the door. Piece of cake.

"What does it say?" Liam asked. His voice cut through the silent room a lot louder than I would have cared for. For a moment I had forgotten that he couldn't see in the dark like I could.

Something in the bushes rustled.

I pulled Liam to the side, trying to be quiet and fast at the same time. I take it back. Not simple.

"Stay quiet and do as I say," I breathed in his ear, just loudly enough for him to hear me. "There's a monster in here with us."

Not just any monster, either. A manticore.

In our studies about monsters, Annabeth had warned me about manticores. _If you ever come across one by yourself,_ she had said, _just run._ Manticores had the body of a lion, but the huge, spiky tail of a scorpion that could fling spikes at rapid speeds. If there was one in here with us...

I forced myself to stay calm. This was my mother's room. I was in my element. I could do this.

With that thought in my head, I drew my bow and notched a silver arrow to my bow. I couldn't see the manticore through the brush, but it was sniffling where Liam and I had just been. How had it survived down here for all these years? It didn't matter—in a moment the beast would have our scent.

Without even thinking, I fired my bow off towards the other end of the room, creating a loud _clang_ as it struck the metal wall.

Instantly the manticore rushed off in the direction I had fired my arrow. Its speed was amazing.

I instructed Liam to step where I stepped, and then we were off. He had to hold the back of my jacket to keep track of me in the dark, and I was focused on the manticore. All I needed was one good shot...

I crouched in a bush suddenly, and Liam followed my example clumsily. The manticore was on the move once again, going towards the stone door. But we hadn't been over there. Either the creature was confused, or it was trying to trick us. I chose to believe the latter.

There was only one choice. We had to split up.

The thought sent icy fear arcing up my spine, but we didn't have a choice. Liam was unexperienced with walking in the dark and in the wilderness. He would be an obvious target for the manticore—and that was what was scaring me.

I swallowed my fear for my friend and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "I need you to walk toward the sealed door."

He looked around blindly. "Where is it?"

I tried not to hiss in frustration. Making sure that he could see me, I pointed towards the stone door. Liam nodded, but I could sense his hesitation.

"You'll be fine," I told him, giving his hand a squeeze. "I'll be looking out for you."

He seemed to relax a little bit. "All right."

With a final look towards me, Liam ventured off, into the darkness. I watched his progress for a moment before circling around, hugging close to the wall. I could see the manticore's deep tracks left in the dirt, and I followed them as Liam marched towards the door, louder than an elephant.

I froze. Less than a few yards away, the manticore crouched in the underbrush, its leather tail whipping agitatedly back and forth as it watched Liam. Its tail suddenly stilled as it prepared to strike. Liam wouldn't even see it coming.

I fired off four arrows in rapid succession. The first three struck the manticore's spikes out of the air before they could reach Liam. The fourth struck the manticore in the gut. It was a terrible wound, one that would take hours to kill. I had only done it to get the monster's attention.

And it worked. With a howl of fury and pain, the manticore turned towards me, locking eyes with me. Manticores had the face of a human, and this one seemed tortured. I shuddered.

 _Flick._ In an instant, the manticore had launched more spikes at me. I reacted as quickly as I could, intercepting them in midair with my own projectiles, but I still felt one or two shatter against my coat. The sheer force that they had been launched with sent me backwards, but I rolled and landed on my feet.

The manticore narrowed its eyes at me. Its _human_ eyes at me. Unlike me, it had become used to the darkness in the room.

I focused everything on making my skin shine as brightly as I could make it. The room was instantly lit up as clearly as a sunny day, and the manticore recoiled as its eyes were blinded. In a fit of rage, it whipped its tail around in random directions, sending spikes flying everywhere.

I shot as many as I could out of the air, but there were too many spikes and only one of me. One of the spikes grazed my shin, but most of them glanced off of my invincible coat.

A loud _clang!_ filled the room as Liam activated Aegis. If it wasn't for his sister's shield, he would have been sliced into a million little pieces. He nodded at me, and together we charged the manticore.

It was too blinded to do much about it. It heard Liam coming, but all of its spikes were deflected by Aegis. Liam slashed at the manticore with his sword while I pumped it full of arrows.

The manticore growled and turned towards me as its eyes began to refocus. It began to run as fast as it could towards me, but I already had an arrow notched to my bow. With a shout, I released it, and the manticore collapsed into dust as my arrow pierced its face.

For a moment, Liam and I just stood there panting. Then I heard another clang as he dropped Aegis and wrapped me in another massive hug.

"Freaking amazing!" he roared, squeezing me tightly.

"Hrnn...I sort of need to breathe, Liam."

"Oh, right. Sorry," he said as he released me, still grinning widely. I couldn't help but grin back. I had just killed a _manticore_. I felt like I could take on the world.

I reached down into the pile of dust and picked up a large manticore spike the size of my arm. Its tip was sharp enough to slice through one of my fingers no problem. I looked at the sealed stone door. In it, a small opening just large enough to fit the manticore spike had just opened. I slid the spike inside, and it sunk in all the way to the tip. With a loud rumble, the door began to open.

Any confidence I had began to dissipate. This was it; everything had been leading to this. Next would be the Aetherium Crown, and possibly Phoebe. Anxiety spiked through me, but then I breathed in the scent of the pine trees and remembered my initials carved into my tree in central park. I was ready. I could do this.

A sudden beep from my watch snapped me out of my thoughts. Looking down at it, I found that the golden numbers read 12:00. It was midnight. But I was more concerned with why my watch had beeped; it had never done that before, especially not at midnight.

"Why'd it beep?" Liam asked, mirroring my own thoughts.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. But it's not important." I took a breath and looked at him, forcing confidence into my posture.

"Come on," I said. "We have a Crown to steal and a Titan to kill."

 **Again, I apologize for the cliche-ness of the first half of this chapter. But there are only a few more chapters left! Please review! (Thank you to that one person who did for tha last chapter, you made my day)**


	33. FAMILY COUNSELING IS NOW OFF THE TABLE

**LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!**

 **PLEASE PREPARE YOURSELF FOR...**

 **THE FINAAAAAAL BAAAAAATLE!**

 **(Please tolerate my excitement and nerdiness)**

* * *

The next room we entered was the largest that I had seen in Atlantis. It was easily the size of three of Zeus's rooms. It was crafted out of black granite, but it was darker than any I had ever seen. No gold or silver or pearl adorned this room. There were only two doors to the room; the one we had entered through, and yet another sealed stone door at the opposite end. I was getting really tired of seeing those. In the corner, a small pool of water sat. It appeared to be some kind of deep fountain, but the pipes had long since rusted up. In the center of the room, a large marble podium stood, taller than I was by at least three feet. The Aetherium Crown sat on top of it.

It was clearly designed for a god. Its diameter was the length of one of my legs, and it was thick enough to weigh down an elephant. It was crafted out of a strange metal that glowed white, as if it had just been removed from a fire. It was set with the finest sapphires and diamonds that shone brightly. It seemed to radiate power—but not the same power that I had felt from the Olympians. It felt cleaner, somehow...like the Crown was somehow aware.

"That's got to be it," Liam told me, taking a step forward.

I stayed where I was. There was no sign of someone else in the room, but my gut was giving me such a bad feeling that I was afraid if I moved I would puke. Something was wrong. This felt like a trap.

"Stop!" I told Liam, before he could take another step.

"What?" he asked, looking confused. "Why?"

Something large and fast flew through the air, aimed for his heart. My hands were notching an arrow to my bow and firing before I could even think about it. The spear was too large to break, but my arrow knocked it off course, and it slammed into the wall next to Liam with a loud _crash!_

A clap from the shadows. A figure stepped forward, seemingly materializing out of the wall.

Phoebe was smirking. Her silver hair glinted in the dim lighting and she seemed even taller than in my dream. Unlike in my dream, however, I could feel the power emanating from her. It rolled through the room like fog, covering every surface. The only place where it was absent was around the Crown.

"I didn't expect you to make it this far," Phoebe said, her voice a silky purr. She took another step forward, and her silver armor glinted in the light from the crown. "A shame."

"Gee, grams," I said, notching another arrow to my bow, "you're gonna break your great-granddaughter's heart."

Phoebe scoffed. "Apparently I underestimated you."

I grinned cockily. "Well, you're not the only one. Don't feel bad."

The Titan held out her hand, and the spear returned to it in an instant. She snarled a greek curse at me and threw it right for my head.

I dived out of the way and rolled to my feet, firing off my arrow as soon as I was balanced. Phoebe casually sidestepped my arrow like it was a baseball that had been thrown at her.

I remembered my mother's words. _Because of her insight into prophecies and the future, she was able to see us coming_.

Well, that was going to be a problem.

I met Liam's eyes and nodded. In an instant, he had his sword and Aegis drawn and was charging for Phoebe with a roar. At the same time, I assaulted Phoebe with a hail of arrows. It was the same strategy we had employed with the Atlanteans and with the manticore.

Phoebe ducked out of the way of Liam's sword strike and pivoted, slicing into his side with her spear. Half a second later, she dodged one of my arrows—which, fortunately, brought her closer to one of my other arrows. Even with her ability to dodge, there was no way she could move her body out of the way in time. She wasn't the Titan of speed.

Phoebe hissed with displeasure as one of my silver arrows pierced her left shoulder. I cursed. Just an inch or two to the right and I would have hit her heart.

Did Titans have hearts? I wasn't sure. I needed a definitive way to kill her. I wondered if Annabeth had packed any grenades in her backpack. Somehow I doubted it.

Phoebe lashed out with her spear, sending Liam flying across the room. He slammed into the wall with a hard _thud_.

"Liam!" I cried, dashing across the room. His eyes were dazed and he seemed to be having a hard time focusing. His brown hair was sticking up at unseemly angles and blood dripped down his face from a wound in his scalp. His side was bleeding.

"I'm fine," he insisted, trying to stand up. He stumbled over.

"Sit down," I told him. "You're concussed."

"Interesting," Phoebe said, tearing my arrow out of her shoulder with little more than a wince. Ichor, the golden blood of all immortal beings, leaked from her shoulder. The wound didn't seem to harm her.

"What's interesting?" I barked at her, placing three arrows on my bow and aiming them at her.

Phoebe advanced towards us casually. Like me, her skin seemed to have a silvery glow to it. She was steadily increasing the brightness of her skin until I had to squint at her. "You appear to have broken your oath, yet your powers are intact."

"Oath?" Liam asked, looking at me. "What oath?"

"I haven't broken any oath," I said, pulling back on my bowstring. "And you're about to find out just how powerful I am."

I released the arrows, but Phoebe stepped out of the way at the last moment, not even blinking as they whizzed by her. I fired arrow after arrow until my fingers burned, but she easily sidestepped each one, bringing her closer and closer to me. Finally, when she was less than a yard away, she lunged for me. I dived desperately to the right, but Phoebe moved to intercept me—moved _first—_ and wrapped her hands around my throat, just as she had in my dream.

She lifted me off of the ground, and I tightened my grip on my dagger in one hand. My bow clattered to the floor, but there was still an arrow in the other. If this was going to work, I needed to get her distracted.

"So..." I choked out as she intensified the pressure on my throat. "I take it that family counseling is officially off the table?"

Phoebe scowled, and I shuddered—it was almost worse than her smile. She raised one hand to slap me (and with her strength, it could easily kill me). In that same moment, I brought both my hunting knife and my arrow up, attempting to slam them into both sides of her face. In slow motion, I saw Phoebe's eyes widen, and she brought her head back, simultaneously dropping me to the ground, but it was too late.

Both my arrow and my knife cut into her face, right underneath her eyes. Both were deep wounds, and ichor gushed from her face like bizarre face paint. For a moment, she just stood there in shock—I don't think she expected for me to score on her more than once.

I tried to move, but I had to get air back into my lungs first. I was still lying on the floor. With a horrible scream of rage, Phoebe kicked me in the ribs, launching me across the room. For a moment, there was a horrible feeling of weightlessness as I flew through the air, and then a sickening _crunch_ as I slammed against the wall, landing hard on the floor. White hot agony shot though my left arm, making it too painful for me to even think. I was being torn apart from the inside out; I couldn't breathe. Something was broken.

"Insolent child!" Phoebe roared, stomping towards me as I watched through a haze of tears. I wanted to raise my knife, which was still clutched in my good hand, but I couldn't do anything but gasp in pain. I needed to reach Annabeth's backpack; it had ambrosia and nectar in it. But it was halfway across the room, and Phoebe was separating me from it.

Someone staggered between me and my great-grandmother. Liam raised Aegis and his sword. "Stay...away from her."

Phoebe stopped for a moment, examining Liam with disdain in her expression. "You are nothing."

I started to stand, but it was too late. Phoebe took her spear and thrusted at Liam, but it was deflected by Aegis. The force of the blow, however, sent him keeling over, and he landed on his back. Barely even pausing, Phoebe took her spear and stabbed down on Liam's foot. Luckily, he moved it slightly at the last second, otherwise he would have had his foot chopped off. As it was, the spearhead severed his Achille's tendon with a sound similar to chopping up bacon.

Suddenly Liam screamed so loudly that I felt it reverberate in my soul. The pain in that scream...it made me want to vomit.

I was standing, clutching my broken arm with my good one. It was bent at an unseemly angle, looking more like a broken tree branch than a limb. When I heard Liam's horrific shout, I rushed forward, trying to help him, but Phoebe had already grabbed him by the front of his leather armor like he was a rag doll. I watched with horror as his weapons shrunk back into their accessory modes, and she threw him across the room once again—but this time, he landed face-down in the broken fountain.

"No," I breathed, staggering forward. Phoebe didn't even try to stop me as I rushed past her. She only laughed, and it made me want to cover my ears and hide for a millennia.

I was moving slowly, because each movement sent pain arcing up my arm like lightning. I was too slow—Liam had stopped struggling by the time I reached him. I knew that he couldn't swim, but with his injured foot, there was nothing he could have done. The water had been stained red from his severed Achille's tendon. Ignoring the searing pain that sliced through my injured arm, I dragged Liam out of the water.

His lips had turned the faintest shade of blue, and his eyes were closed. I placed my good hand on his chest. He wasn't breathing.

"What did you do?" I screamed at Phoebe.

She laughed again. "Save him, then."

Save him? How was I supposed to...

 _No._

I could perform mouth-to-mouth. If I tried to get some air back into his lungs, there was a possibility that he could wake up. But I needed to get the water out of his lungs first.

I turned Liam over, crying both from the pain of my broken arm and from fear of losing him. He rolled limply under my hands like boiled noodles dumped from a cooking pan. Water gushed from his mouth and nose. I pushed down as hard as I could on the small of his back, and more water flowed from his lips. I pushed again and again until the flow stopped, and then I turned him over again. His skin had turned a waxy pale color that made my heart stop.

 _He's not dead,_ I thought determinedly. _Not yet._

I didn't even hesitate. I kneeled over him and put my mouth to his. His lips were cool and limp under mine. I blew into his mouth, trying to fill every portion of his lungs with air. The moment my lips had touched his, I could feel something draining from me—like I was emptying a well I didn't know was full. I blew until I was lightheaded, and then sat back, taking a moment to catch my breath.

If my arm hadn't been broken, I could have performed chest-compressions; I had learned it the hard way when Fred had beat one of the other children too hard. But I had to settle for punching him in the heart over and over again with my good fist until I could breathe steadily again. Then I would blow air back into his lungs and repeat the process again.

I must have done it a thousand times before I saw a sign of progress. Liam's finger twitched suddenly, and a new hope flooded me. I blew air into his lungs until my chest felt dry and then slapped him as hard as I could.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then he coughed—weakly, at first. And then Liam came spluttering back to life, spitting up whatever water was left in his lungs. Color slowly bled back into his cheeks as he panted there for a moment, and then his eyes opened. They were bloodshot, but they were very much alive.

"Wha—?" Liam began to ask, but I was too busy hugging him to notice. Pain shot through my arm, but it was more bearable now that I knew Liam was alive.

Two objects were placed in my hand as I hugged him. I pulled back, confused, but Liam was already unconscious—the pain of his foot must have been too much for him.

I looked down at my hand. Liam's ring and Thalia's bracelet sat there.

I subtly placed his ring on my finger and Thalia's bracelet on my wrist as I turned to face Phoebe. Anger burned me from the inside out, beating out the pain of my arm as I stood. My legs were shaking.

"I've been waiting for you," Phoebe said, leaning on her spear and wiping ichor from her face. "So many years of waiting. When I learned of Artemis's daughter, I knew the time was at hand for the end of the gods."

"You talk a lot," I said, panting as I tightened my grip on my knife. "You'd think after being alive for so long you'd be able to say something intelligent."

Anger flashed in Phoebe's silver eyes. "You are but a gnat compared to me. I am—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I interrupted. "Spare the whole 'I am greater than thou' speech. You're not the first powerful being I've come across."

Phoebe raised her spear to her shoulder, preparing to throw it. "I am more powerful than anything—"

I threw my hunting knife as hard as I could in the middle of her sentence, aiming for her heart.

Phoebe didn't even move. The knife went wide, clattering against the wall at least three yards away from where she was standing.

Horror washed over me. Making Liam drown—it had all been a trick! She _knew_ about my weakness, about the punishment Orcus had bestowed upon me. She knew that resuscitating Liam would get rid of my powers. How?

"I see everything that happens above the surface," Phoebe said, seemingly reading my mind. She pointed to her head, leaving a golden, bloody fingerprint on her forehead. "I see everything."

"I thought Prometheus was the Titan of forethought," I said. I needed to keep her talking. I needed to come up with a plan. "You're just the Titan of prophecy. Big whoop."

Phoebe sneered at Prometheus's name. "That pretender knows nothing of the future! He can see but one possible outcome; I can see them _all_."

"And in how many do I kick your ass?" I asked her, fumbling around on my wrist with Thalia's bracelet. It was a lot harder to activate it with only one working hand. My broken arm pulsed with pain every second, making it hard to think. Somehow, I needed to get my hand on the ambrosia in Annabeth's backpack. It was only a yard or two away, but the instant I moved, Phoebe would attack. I wasn't sure what her spear was made of, but I wasn't willing to bet my Nemean Lion's pelt could withstand it.

Phoebe actually seemed to think about my question. "One. But the cost is high for you."

"What isn't?" I deadpanned.

Phoebe shook her head, chuckling. "You don't understand. You cannot beat me in a battle. It is forbidden."

This time, I was the one who sneered at her. "Everything I _do_ is forbidden."

Almost before I had finished my sentence, Phoebe threw her spear as hard as she could for my head, but I barely managed to activate Aegis in time. A large dent appeared in the metal as I dashed forward. Phoebe sidestepped in preparation, but I wasn't going after her.

The moment I reached Annabeth's backpack, I used one of my arrows to slice it open. I ripped it open, shoving as many pieces of ambrosia as I could into my mouth. Not paying attention to the taste, I spun to face Phoebe.

Something inside of me was burning. Collapsing to my knees, I felt sweat break out on my forehead as my broken arm righted itself, fixing its broken angle. It didn't matter; I had eaten too much ambrosia. Because I was only half human, the food of the gods was going to burn me to a crisp.

But then all of a sudden the burning stopped. I still felt feverish, but I could breathe fine, and I didn't seem to be vaporized. My injured arm still ached something fierce, but it wasn't hanging at an odd angle any more, and the pain had faded to a dull throb. I suspected it was still fractured, but it would have to do for now.

Phoebe cursed loudly in greek. "How are you still alive?"

I gasped. I _wasn't_ half human—Lawrence was. And since my mother was a goddess...that only made me a quarter human. _That's_ how I was able to survive eating so much ambrosia.

I stood, feeling some of my confidence return, even if I didn't have my powers anymore. I still had my wits and my street skills. I was _not_ completely helpless.

"Whatcha waiting for?" I asked Phoebe, exuding a false aura of arrogance. "Come and get me!"

I dashed to the side as she roared and charged towards me—towards the Aetherium Crown. This close, the light was almost blinding, but I could see just as much as I needed to.

"Pathetic weakling!" Phoebe bellowed, throwing her spear at me.

I jumped to the side at the last moment—the impact making me hiss in pain as my arm was jarred—and the spear missed me by less than an inch. It landed in the stone floor next to my foot. Turning to increase my momentum, I slammed Aegis into the base of the spear, right above the spearhead. There was a moment of resistance, but then the shield sheared through the metal spear, leaving it as little more than a walking staff.

I grabbed the spearhead and threw it across the room before Phoebe had a chance to realize what had happened.

She stared at me for a solid three seconds (I counted) before her features transformed into the same tortured, anger-filled expression that I had seen on the manticore. It made me take a step back, and I considered for half a nanosecond that I had made a mistake.

Phoebe held out her hand, and the broken spear flew back into her hands. Before I had a chance to even comprehend that she had moved, she slammed the pole into me, sending me flying across the room once again—and right into the Aetherium Crown.

I knocked the crown right off the podium, and it fell with me onto the floor, but strangely it didn't make a sound as it hit the floor behind me. Aegis clattered out of my reach as I landed hard on the stone floor.

I winced as I attempted to sit up—agony clawed into me, originating from my chest. Great. Now my ribs were broken too.

Phoebe stepped around the podium, approaching me like a lion would as it stalks a gazelle. She knew I had nowhere to go. Ignoring the pain in my arm and my ribs, I scrambled backwards on all fours.

"Your mother would be so disappointed in you," Phoebe drawled.

Despite the pain that was making it hard to breathe, I felt anger explode in my chest. "Shut your mouth."

Phoebe continued, sensing my agitation. "You are a street brat. A weakling." I continued to scramble backwards as she stepped forward. My back brushed against the Aetherium Crown. Was there some way I could use it as a weapon? "And a disappointment to the family line."

I reached behind me as she continued to advance. When I grabbed the Crown, I expected some kind of pain for touching so powerful an artifact, but none came. Instead, this wonderful peaceful feeling overcame me. I was once again overcome with the impression that the Crown had a mind of its own. It felt like it was calming me. I couldn't see it, but in my hand, I felt the crown begin to shrink until it was normal size.

But there was something else. A second object in my hand. I let go of the crown, but the warm, peaceful feeling stayed with me, emanating from the second thing I was clutching.

"So what's your plan?" I said through clenched teeth. My cracked ribs were making it hard to breathe, let alone speak. "You kill me and then what? You're still stuck down here."

Phoebe turned away, and I could sense her intent. She had been trapped alone down here for so long, I suspected she needed somebody to speak to, even if she was about to kill me. "Then I will watch as the gods tear each other apart. Your mother will be angry that Zeus sent you down here with little hope, and your friends's parents will be furious as well. It will be enough to make the gods destroy each other."

I was barely listening. While her back was turned, I brought the mystery object behind my back in front of me.

It was a necklace, crafted out of the same white metal as the Aetherium Crown. It had no jewels, but it was still beautiful. It was on a simple chain, but the pendant was that of a full moon. I could feel power emanating from the necklace, and when I turned it over, I found the letters AC engraved on the back.

It was in my handwriting.

Shock ran through my system, but luckily my broken ribs made it harder for me to gasp. How could the engraving be in my handwriting? It looked exactly like the initials I had carved into my tree in Central Park.

The necklace seemed to also possess a mind of its own—I could practically feel its intent. It wanted me to put it on.

Quickly, before Phoebe could turn back, I placed the necklace over my hand and around my neck. It was a long chain, and the pendant reached down to my chest. I tucked it into my jacket just as Phoebe turned back.

"But you're stuck down here," I growled. "You can't take over Olympus from down here."

"Ah, but I'm not trapped here," Phoebe said, smiling that grisly grin. "My ally will supply me with safe passage away from this place."

Ally? What ally?

I was instantly distracted from that question as a new—yet familiar—feeling washed over me. It felt like warm water had been poured over me, revitalizing my muscles.

My powers were back.

It was the necklace; it had to be. The Aetherium Crown had given it to me for a reason.

"You're forgetting something," I said, instilling a false confidence into my voice.

"And what is that?" Phoebe sneered at me.

I leaned forward.

"I'm not dead yet."

Faster than either of us could blink, I drew three arrows from my quiver and threw them towards her with perfect accuracy.

Phoebe dodged to the left, but I had prepared for that. Even though she had dodged, the arrows were spread out enough that she couldn't go anywhere without being struck by one.

Checkmate.

Phoebe stared at me as the arrow pierced her armor, sticking out of her heart like she was a pincushion.

She sunk to one knee. Ichor dripped onto the floor. "How? Your powers..."

I struggled to my feet, ignoring the fierce pain that tore into my chest and arm as I did so. Pressing the button on Liam's ring, I transformed it into a long bronze sword.

"I've been underestimated many times in my life," I said, staggering over to the fallen Titan. "But _never_ by such a pompous, stuck up bitch like you."

Because she was kneeling, we were almost the same height. Looking into her eyes, I was struck by the age they held. Being alone in Atlantis for so many years must have driven her mad.

Phoebe spat ichor-tinged saliva at my feet. "Fool. My ally will make short work of you."

"Maybe," I conceded. "But you tried and failed. Next time, I'll make sure my friends are with me." I leaned forward so she looked into both my eyes.

"Say hello to my weapon of choice," I whispered to her, raising Liam's sword.

A moment later, Phoebe's head bounced onto the floor, her face still stuck in an expression of rage. Her body seemed to melt into a pool of molten silver, vanishing into the cracks of the granite floor like she had never been there.

I collapsed to my knees, allowing the pain to finally overwhelm me. It was over. It was finally over.

More out of habit than anything, I checked my watch as I laid down on the ground.

2:13, it read.

I almost laughed, suddenly realizing why my watch had beeped at midnight. My mother must have programmed the day into the watch before she gave it to me. Lawrence had told me when it was before I had left New York.

Right before I passed out, I realized something.

Today, I was sixteen. The prophecy had come true right on time.

 **One chapter left (I think)!**

 **Please review! I would like to know how I did on this chapter.**


	34. I GO CAMPING AND MEET A GOD

**Alright, guys. This is the final chapter. After this, there is an epilogue. Then this story is finished!**

 **It is very important that I recieve feedback for this chapter. I was pretty tired when I first saw this, so I might have accidentally left a few details out. PLEASE help!**

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The first thing I felt was exhaustion. Not just your average exhaustion, either. I'm talking about the kind of tiredness that made you want to lie down and sleep for a thousand eons.

Then a light, flickering at the end of my vision, calling me back to reality.

I spluttered awake, reaching for my knife, but finding that I was unarmed.

I was lying down in a small cabin that appeared to be empty save for me. The inside was decorated with a whole bunch of animal skins: stags, bears, raccoons, and others. The walls were carved with pictures of animals. It smelled like pine trees. The bunk I was lying on had blankets made of fuzzy animal fur, and I was hesitant to get up because I was pleasantly warm. But I knew I had to figure out where I was. The last thing I remembered was...Phoebe's head, bouncing onto the floor. I must have passed out afterwards, but this place didn't look like Atlantis.

I sat up and immediately winced. My chest ached something fierce, though it was significantly reduced from when I was in Atlantis. I noticed that my arm was in a sling. I also appeared to be wearing a hospital gown, and most of my scratches and minor wounds seemed to be bandaged as well. Who had fixed up my wounds? Where was I?

I ignored the pain as I stood, noticing that on another bunk, there was a set of clothes: a pair of black jeans, a gray shirt, and my dark brown leather jacket.

It took a while to dress myself considering that my arm was in a sling and my chest was bandaged, but after a while I was ready—although I did have to leave my left arm out of my jacket sleeve.

I had a small panic attack when I realized that the necklace—the one that the Aetherium Crown had given me—was gone. I searched everywhere for it, but I couldn't find it.

I took a breath to calm myself. I'd figure out where I was first and who had put me here, then I would panic about the necklace.

Hesitantly, I pushed open the door to the cabin. For a moment, the morning light blinded me, but then my eyes adjusted and I gasped.

I was at Camp Full-Water.

There was no mistaking it, though it was a view of the camp that I had never seen before. The strawberry field was still there, of course, along with a big hill were a large house sat, seemingly watching everything. I was on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. I couldn't comprehend everything I saw. There was so much more now than there had been before. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture—an open-air pavilion (where the dance had been, so at least that was familiar), an amphitheater, a circular arena—except that they all looked brand new, the polished marble columns shining in the sun. There was even a nearby sandpit that looked like it would support a game of volleyball. Canoes waited in the sand next to a small lake. In the distance, the archery range stood proudly next to a wooden trail.

I looked around. I was in a small U shape of cabins clustered near the woods. The one I had just been sleeping in was a strange silvery color, but it was dimmed in the light from the sun. The cabin next to it, however, was golden and shone so brightly that I had to avert my eyes. There were ten other cabins, making twelve in total. Each one was distinctive—they each had something special that made me look twice at them.

"Alex," a voice called.

I turned around. A couple hundred yards away, a figure in the pavilion was waving me over.

I swallowed. They almost looked like...

I ran as fast as I could with my injuries towards the pavilion—which was to say, not very fast.

The moment the figures sitting at the long stone table came into view, I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Chiron shouted at me, grinning widely.

He was sitting at the table in his wheelchair form to save space. Beside him was a man I didn't recognize.

He was small, but overweight. He had a large, crimson nose, like he was some bizarre version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. His eyes were big and watery...and also bloodshot. His hair was so dark it was almost purple. He looked drunk. Like, _very_ drunk. It was a wonder he wasn't passed out and drooling on his tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.

The other people sitting at the table I immediately recognized—Thalia, Percy, Beckendorf, Annabeth, and of course Liam.

Liam was holding a teak cane in his hand, but he set it on the ground when he saw me to make room at the table for me. He almost looked worse than I felt—he had a large goose-egg on the side of his head and a large medical boot on his foot—hence the cane.

I resisted the urge to jump across the table and hug each and every one of my friends. "Wha...how are you all here? I thought you were—"

"Trapped in Atlantis?" the drunk man asked in a drawl. "Yes, well...Barnacle-Beard took care of that."

I looked at Chiron, confused.

He gestured to the empty seat next to Liam. "Please, sit. Everything will be explained."

I winced as I sat down—the pain in my ribs had flared. I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. "Chiron, what's going on? Why are we here? What's with the cabins?"

The drunk man took a long, angry sniff through his nose. "Oh, very well. I supposed I should tell you." He gestured around the outdoors with two hands before snapping his fingers and making a can of diet coke appear. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There."

"Um...thanks?" I said, edging away from him just slightly. If anything, I was more confused. "Who are you?"

My friends at the table shot me warning looks, but it was too late. The stranger eyed me with a strange purple fire in his bloodshot eyes, and I knew right then that I was dealing with a god of some kind. At any moment, he could turn me into dust.

I was getting tired of that feeling.

"Young lady," the man said, his tone anything but civilized, "you will address me as 'sir.'"

I looked at Chiron. Was this guy serious? The god hardly looked qualified to run a liquor store, much less be called a "sir." Chiron nodded at me.

"Who are you _sir?_ " I repeated, feeling a little bit agitated. I had just killed a Titan, and this was how I was being treated?

"I am Mr. D," the man—Mr. D—said. I briefly remembered Chiron mentioning someone with that name a few months back. "But you may know me as Dionysus."

My jaw dropped. "Wha— _you're_ Bobby's father?"

Dionysus observed me with a careful expression.

"Yes," he said eventually, without any of the malice I expected. "Robert is my son."

Instantly I could see the resemblance. While they didn't share the same color hair, Bobby's curled in a similar manner. They shared the same shaped eyes, and were roughly the same height.

"Ahem," Chiron politely interrupted, but I could sense the warning in his voice. It would not be wise to continue asking questions of the god.

"Do you remember what happened?" Chiron asked me.

"Urm...kind of?" I replied, frowning. "I remember killing Phoebe. And the Crown..." Where was the Crown?

"Don't worry," Chiron assured me. "The Aetherium Crown is safe with the Olympians, just as it should be."

Dionysus snorted. "A shame. If it were up to me, I would turn you into a dolphin—but my father _insists_ that you have to be taken care of." He sighed. "Never did care for Loony Moony."

I massaged my temple with my right hand. "Chiron, how did we get here?"

My teacher sighed. "Poseidon decided to check on your group's progress, and discovered you all trapped down there. He returned you to the surface, where you were taken here to be healed. The Crown was returned to Mount Olympus along with news of your success."

I looked at Percy. He nodded. He also had a bruise on his head, right at the beginning of his dark hairline.

"But what is this place?" I asked again. "Camp...Half-Blood? I thought this was called Camp Full-Water."

Dionysus snorted as he took a long sip of his diet coke. "Mortals and their pathetic names."

Chiron ignored him. "This is a place I have been petitioning the gods for. Goode has a protective barrier around it, but during the summer many demigods have no place to go. In light of your recent victory, the gods granted me my wish. This is a safe place over the summer for half-bloods."

I looked around at the camp grounds with a new sense of appreciation. Over the summer, I could stay safe here with my friends. After everything that had happened, there was nothing that I wanted more.

"Mr. D has been assigned as Camp Director," Chiron continued.

Dionysus stared at his can of Diet Coke sourly. "Never should have gone after that Wood Nymph."

I frowned and was about to ask him what he meant when Chiron stopped me.

"Zeus was pleased by your actions," he told me. "As a reward, he has granted you your life."

A surge of annoyance shot through me. I was granted my life? I never should have had it threatened at all!

"Gee," I deadpanned, "thanks."

"You didn't let me finish," Chiron said with a smile. He opened his hand, and something tumbled out. "He is also letting you keep this."

I gasped, but it hurt my ribs. In Chiron's hand was the necklace that the Aetherium Crown had given me. It looked just as I had remembered it, and it seemed to glow even more brightly now in the morning light. The moon pendant was engraved with multiple greek symbols that I hadn't been able to make out before.

Chiron handed it to me, and I slipped the necklace over my head. Immediately, I felt my powers return, and I sighed with relief. I didn't like feeling defenseless.

"What is that?" Liam asked, his brows scrunched up like they got when he was confused.

Chiron and I shared a look. Finally, I launched into the story of what Artemis had told me about my powers, and how I was a punishment inflicted upon her and Lawrence for breaking her love oath.

I avoided Liam's eyes as I told the tale, but I could practically _feel_ the disappointment radiating from him. Or was I just imagining things?

"You were a punishment?" Liam asked, that gentleness that I loved in his voice.

I shrugged. "It doesn't really matter."

Liam shot me a look that told me that he didn't believe me, but I ignored it for the time being. I still had things to explain.

"There's more," I told Chiron. "Phoebe said she had an ally that would let her out of the city once the gods had destroyed themselves. She made it sound like she had another god on her side."

Chiron steepled his hands. "That is...troubling. To my knowledge, Phoebe has almost always worked by herself. Is that not so, Mr. D?"

"Hm?" Dionysus looked up. "Oh, yes. Real pain, that Titan. Glad she's gone."

Well, it was as close to a "thank you" as I was going to get from the gods. I supposed I would have to take it.

I looked up at the Big House. "But it's over now, right? I'm not being hunted anymore. I can relax."

"Well, no half-blood can ever truly relax," Chiron replied, but he was smiling. "But yes, it's over. You're safe."

 _Well_ , I thought, sitting back with a satisfied feeling, _it's about damn time._

 **Did I answer all your questions? Are you satisfied? I NEED TO KNOW, PEOPLE! PLEEEEEEEAAAAASE REVIEW!**


	35. EPILOGUE

***sniffles* This is it, guys. This is the end of the story. It's been three years, but we're finally here. Woo! And with over 10,000 views no less!**

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We had my birthday party a week later.

When I told my friends that I was sixteen, they were a little upset that I hadn't told them sooner—they demanded that they throw me a birthday party. I had never had one before, so I told them it was alright if they did throw me one. What was the worst that could happen?

I spent most of the week recovering at home with Lawrence while the others set up the party. My ribs were still sore, and my arm had to be placed in a small cast, but I was feeling significantly better by the time the party rolled around.

They had decided to throw my party at Camp Half-Blood, mostly because all of my friends were half-bloods and we didn't want to attract any more attention from monsters than we already had. Chiron used the Staff of Soteria to set up the borders for the camp—which is why we hadn't been able to bring it with us to Atlantis.

I brought Cooper along in the car with me. I could tell the hound was trying to hide it, but he was excited to visit the camp and be in the wilderness. He had revealed to me that he was half wolf—which was why I could talk to him.

 _"What's it like?"_ Cooper asked me as Lawrence pulled his car to a stop outside the large hill that was the entrance to the camp.

"It's very peaceful," I told the canine, rubbing him between the ears as I exited my father's police car. He wagged his tail and followed me, prancing through the grass. I tried very hard not to laugh, but a snort still escaped me.

"Have you ever had a birthday party?" Lawrence asked me as we climbed the hill.

I shook my head. "Frederick was not big on celebrating anything other than a bottle of whiskey."

Lawrence's eyes darkened at my former caretaker's name. I had told him the full story of what had happened in the foster care, and he had made sure to give Frederick the most uncomfortable holding cell the police station had available. Frederick's trial was in a month; I was confident he was going to prison for a long time. There was too much evidence against him.

Lawrence handed me one of those pointy party hats from the dollar store as we reached the top of the hill.

"I'm not wearing this," I told him, eying the hat with disdain.

"Oh, come on!" Lawrence said. "Your friends told me that you had to."

I crossed my arms as we crossed the barrier; I felt the warm feeling wash over me as we entered. The necklace around my neck hummed in response. I was still trying to understand the thing. It was always warm to the touch, but it became cold as ice whenever monsters were around.

"Fine," I grumbled, taking the hat from him. I didn't put it on, though. I placed it in my jacket pocket as the pavilion came into view. Nobody was there.

I turned to Lawrence, stepping into the pavilion as I did so. "Where are they? It's today, right?"

"SURPRISE!"

I jumped so high in the air I might as well have been a child of Zeus. All around me, people suddenly materialized, all of them holding hands. There were at least two dozen people, all of them demigods I had met at school. Even Clarisse was there. How had I not seen them? Cooper yelped in surprise, then hid behind my leg.

My question was answered when I saw Annabeth with her baseball cap in one hand and Percy's hand in the other. The hat had been a gift from her mother, and she had just used it to scare the crap out of me! I wish I could say that I was pissed, but instead I started laughing. I laughed _hard_.

"You're not wearing your hat!" somebody behind me exclaimed. I turned to find Liam walking towards me, grinning his goofy grin.

It was actually a miracle that he could walk at all, according to the doctors—both mortal and immortal. But, with a healthy dose of both mortal medicine and ambrosia and nectar, he had made a full recovery—well, as close as he was going to get to one. He still had the cane, and he would need it for the rest of his life. But he was alive, which was all I needed. He was dressed in the same outfit he had worn at Selina's party: a gray zip-up hoodie over a _Breaking Benjamin_ T-shirt. My heart did a little Irish jig when I saw him.

"Let me guess," I said, rolling my eyes but smiling at him, "this was your idea?" I held up the pointy hat at him.

Liam shrugged. "It's a birthday party!"

"Stop flirting!" someone in the crowd of people shouted. "I want cake!"

I felt my face reddening as Lawrence raised an eyebrow at me, as if saying, _I told you so._

The others led me to a table where a large cake in the shape of a starship sat. It was no secret that I had binge watched Star Wars while I was cooped up in my house, recovering. I couldn't help smiling as they sang Happy Birthday to me. If all birthday parties were like this, then they couldn't be that bad. Cooper sat next to me on the stone bench, his mouth watering as he stared at it. After they had cut the cake—chocolate!—I fed the dog a piece under the table when nobody was looking.

While we ate, I had half a dozen half-bloods ask me to recite what had happened in Atlantis. After the sixth person, I finally relented, with Liam or Thalia filling in the details that I missed. Even Clarisse looked captivated by the tale. After I was finished, she grudgingly told me that I had done a good job. I decided to put the fight in the past.

Then, of course, there were the gifts. Most of the people who showed up had no clue what to get me, so I had at least a dozen new quivers full of bronze or silver arrows. Still, they were useful—I never had to worry about running out of arrows again. Beckendorf gave me a new-and-improved archery course that I could set up in my backyard. Annabeth and Thalia got me a gift of Grape Crush boxes—six of them, to be exact. Percy and Grover both pitched in and got me some comic books. Liam got me a gift card to buy more songs for my MP3 player. I received more gifts than I knew what to do with—but the best by far was Lawrence's.

Lawrence was nowhere to be found while the others presented their gifts, which I thought was odd. My friends told me that he was picking up my gift.

I was engaged in the middle of a chug-of-war with one of the Ares kids (we drank as much Grape Crush as fast as we could, and whoever didn't burp for the longest time afterwards won) when I saw him walking up the hill with my "gift" in tow.

I spat out my Grape Crush all over my opponent when I saw what it was. Or rather, who it was.

Bobby was walking next to my father, a wide smile on his little face. Forgetting the competition and my opponent's curses at being soaked in spit, I jumped out of my seat and ran to the pair, ignoring the pain in my chest, also grinning widely,

"Bobby!" I exclaimed, coming to a stop right in front of him. My faux-brother gave me a big hug, which I quickly returned. "What are you doing here?"

"This," Lawrence said, ruffling Bobby's hair, making the boy laugh as he released me from the hug, "is your birthday present."

I stared at the two of them, not understanding. Then it hit me, and I almost screamed from the excitement that filled my body. "You adopted him?"

Lawrence nodded. "Say hello to your baby brother."

I immediately wrapped them both in a gigantic hug. It was too perfect.

"Thank you," I told Lawrence. "Thank you, Dad!"

I pulled back, but the smile on his face told me that I had said the right thing.

The rest of the party was a blast. We played pin the donkey (which I crushed), and Selina hooked up some speakers so that we could listen to music.

At one point, Thalia walked up to me, sighed, and handed me twenty dollars.

"What's this for?" I asked her, confused.

She nodded towards Annabeth and Percy, who were holding hands as they told a group of freshman demigods how they had escaped from Atlantis. Both of them seemed happier than I had ever seen them.

I grinned. "This is for the bet, isn't it?"

Thalia sighed again. "Yeah."

I pumped my fist. "I knew it!"

The daughter of Zeus rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I think we need more paper plates. Can you grab some from the Big House?"

I nodded slowly, not sure why there was a hint of mischief in her voice. "Sure."

I marched up to the Big House. It was appropriately named, considering that the porch was huge and stuffed with deck chairs. There was also a large table there, perfect for playing a card game of some kind. Up here, the breeze smelled like strawberries.

I pushed open the door to the farmhouse, searching for paper plates. The interior was nice—stone counter-tops, couches, the works. I walked towards the kitchen only to find another person rooting through the pantry, his cane laid on the counter next to him.

"Liam?" I asked, stepping around the door so that I could see him. He had a stack of paper plates in one hand and a can of soda in the other.

"Huh?" he asked, dropping the paper plates as he clumsily turned to face me. Quickly, I handed him his cane. He nodded in thanks as he leaned on it, setting his can of soda on the counter.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him as we both leaned down to pick up the plates that he had dropped.

"Oh, Grover asked me to grab some paper plates," he replied, brushing some of his brown hair out of his eyes. He handed me the rest of the paper plates and I placed them on the stone counter next to him.

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "That's weird. Thalia asked me to do the same thing."

He shrugged. "They probably just noticed that we needed them at the same time."

Liam had grown a little taller than me in the past few months, but not so tall that I had to crane my neck to look up at him. He'd had his hair cut recently, and it looked more like it had when we first met. And despite everything that had happened, his eyes still had that humorous energy that had struck me the first time we had met.

I looked at his cane. Somehow, it felt strange to see him carrying it. "Are you alright?"

He shrugged. "It's nothing. I can still fight fine. And I can still speak French, so everything is peachy."

I chuckled. "Have you been doing a lot of French-speaking lately, William?"

Liam's eyes were sparkling with that sense of humor. " _Pourquoi? Est-ce que tu penses c'est attrayent?_ "

"I'm not sure what you just said, but...sure," I replied, smiling.

Liam suddenly seemed conflicted about something. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Um, what y-you said earlier...about, um..." I raised an eyebrow at him. "Your weakness."

 _Ah,_ I thought, feeling my heartbeat pick up a little bit. _That._

He gestured to my necklace, which was hanging proudly outside my shirt. "Does it still work...w-when you wear that?"

I thought about it for a moment, mustering up my courage. I'd thought of this for a while—what else are you to do when you fall in love with your executioner? Well...my almost-executioner.

"Well," I eventually said, wrapping my arms around his neck, "there's only one way to find out."

Liam smiled at me, and before I could lose my nerve, I pressed my mouth to his.

I was barely even paying attention to my power source. I had my suspicions about whether or not I would lose my powers if I kissed someone while wearing the necklace, and it turned out that I was right. No power drained from me.

But all of that passed in the back of my mind, because I was very, very distracted by Liam. I couldn't think of anything at all but the feel of his lips against mine, the way he smelled of green apples and vanilla, the way his arms wrapped around me...

"Ha!" a voice shouted. "Take that, Grover! You owe me twenty bucks!"

Liam and I broke apart suddenly, both of us breathing hard. I looked out the window in the kitchen to find Thalia with a little polaroid camera pointed at us.

"I'm gonna kill you, Thalia!" I yelled, but I was laughing.

"You have to catch me first!"

Thalia dashed suddenly to the left, running back down the hill while she cackled like a witch.

I looked at Liam. His face was flushed, just like I imagined mine was. But was was chuckling softly.

"Go get her," he said, brushing a bit of hair out of my face.

I hesitated, but then planted a quick kiss on his lips before running out the door, sprinting after Thalia. I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face as I ran, and it wasn't just because of what had just happened with Liam.

Because for once, I had a home.

 **~ End ~**

* * *

 **So, uh...what now?**

 **It's been a long time coming, guys, but this story is now officially COMPLETED!**

 **Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review! If there** **are any inconsistencies, plot holes, or grammar errors, I will do my best to fix them!**

 **And with that, I'm signing off, dudes.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it.**

 **— Jackie**


	36. THE AUTHOR HAS AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE

**What's up, dudes? Please pardon this brief announcements.**

 **So, I've given it some careful consideration, and I HAVE decided to make a sequel. Yay, right? I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to upload it—my dad has been playing around with my data and the wifi in my house. But please expect something in July.**

 **I'll upload another announcement here so you guys can see it.**

 **(Please don't be mad at me for wasting your time with a small announcement update like this.)**


	37. YET ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT!

**The sequel has been posted! It is called Fractured. Enjoy!**

 **P.S: Please don't hate me.**


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